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II 






BALLADSOFTHE SOUTH. \ 

Cheapest Publishing House in the Country. ! I 




-n^^?5- iii 







Da^vley's Camp and Fireside Library— No. 1. 



^ .^_ . 

I IST C ID E TsT TS 



A 
/ 1 



OF 



AMERICAN 
CAMP LIFE: 



BEING 



Events whicli have actually transpired during the 
. PRESENT REBELLION. 



\ • » > ♦ • » < < 



^or 



Second. Edition.' 



-»» * • • <»- 



Wos. 13 and 15 Park Rovr. C 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1862, by 
T. R. DAWLEY. 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
Southern District of New York. 



iTj^-LT^ 



T. R. DAWLBT. 
Stereotyper and Printer. 






OOXltOHtS- 



A Picturesque Ptebel Army, .... 
A Carai^ of Females at Island No. 10, 

A Female Secesh, 

A New York Heroine, 

A Remarkable Escape, 

A Maryland- Unionist, . . , . 

A Demijohn drilled; and its contents spiked, . 

A Yankee trick in Missouri, .... 

A Female Spy, 

A Young Man of the 140th, .... 

An Inquisitive Rebel ; or, Tapping the Lightning, 

An Exciting Incident of Picket Life, 

An Incident of the Battle of'Forts, . 

An F. F. Y. outwitted by a Chicago Fire Zouave, 

An Incident of the Williamsburg Battle, . 

An Explanation, 

Burnside and the Fisherman, .... 
Couldn't Stand it or, the last of Six, 
California Joe at his work, .... 

Carson the Scout — not Kit, .... 
Clearing the Battle-field after an engagement, . 
Darhig Adventure by Union Soldiers, . 
Drubbing a Prisoner ; or, Pat and the F. F. V., 
Drumming a Coward out of Camp, 
Death Scene of Capt. John Griswold, 

Details 

Extraordinary Telegraphic Strategy— Notes from the 
Diary of a Secesh Telegraphic Operator, 



Paos. 
. 16 

89 
. 47 
62 
. 56 
57 
. 69 
72 
. 93 
98 
. 11 
12 
. 20 
54 
. 70 
100 
. 44 
19 
, 59 
61 
71 
43 
44 
67 
83 
101 

22 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



Gen. Stuart and a Darkey, .99 

General McCall's First Escape, 50 

How the Rebels like Yankee Cofifee, . . . . 15 
Hurst, the Tennessee Scout ; or, the Persecution of a Union 

man in Tennessee,. . . 37 

Heartlessness of a Surgeon, 104 

Joking on the Battle-field— Hallo, Lobsters, we are Union 

men, 

Miss Taylor in Camp Dick Robinson, .... 
Not unless they lay down their arms, .... 
Preserving the Constitution ; or, the Incidents a'iending 

the operations of the Mackerel Brigade, 
Probable Tragic Close of an eventful Career, 
Rebels caught in their own trap, .... 

Remembered and Mourned, 102 

Scenes between Pickets, . .... 21 

Scene at a New York Recruiting Office, . . . .81 

Sure enough, ^^ 

The Snake Hunters of Western Virginia ; or, the Moccassin 

Rangers, 

The Rebels and the Telegraph ; or, the 

Gen. Pope's Army at Bull Run, . 
The Burning of Cotton ; or, a dissimilar result. 
Take your Choice Madam, .... 
The Wrong Way — A funny Mistake, 

These are my boys, 

The Massachusetts 6th in Baltimore, 
The Drummer Boy of Marblehead, 

The Dying Soldier, 

The Drummer Boy, 

Vaccinnation in the Army ; or, Irish Wit, . 
What they all Need— Work your head, Susannah 



Shelter Tents 



. 7 
for 

41 
. 45 

55 
. 60 

93 
. 84 

87 

97 
102 

18 
. 51 



Who was she, ^^ 



The Snake-Hunters of Western Virginia. 

The organization of rebel guerilla leaders in the 
mountain districts of Western Virginia lias led to the 
formation of opposing bands among the loyalists. 
Among the rebel organizations is one celebrated as the 
" Moccasin Rangers." They had a good time and an 
easy one, robbing the Unionists with impunity, until 
Captain Baggs got up his " counter-irritant " in the 
shape of a company of '• Snake- Hunters," a delicate 
allusion to the venomous reptile bearing the name of 
"moccasin." The " Snake-Hunters " are stalwart, rug- 
ged foresters, mountaineers and " original backwoods- 
men " — shrewd, wary, and daring*, as they are athletic 
and active — fleet of foot, nimble climbers, and perfect 
in the use of knife and gun. They were enlisted at 
Wheeling, and mustered into the Union service there, 
under that most half-horse, half-alligator, and the rest- 
snapp'ng turtle-cst of human beings since the demise of 
the lamented Colonel David Crockett, Captain Baggs, 
who beat every county in Western Virginia for the 
right breed, and sent them to Wheeling as fast as he 
found them, to be licked into the shape required to con- 
stitute a Snake-Hunter in good standing. They were 
recruited for mountain service, and were usually kept 
on the trail of guerillas, and for other independent 
enterprises ; but when attached to an army, their busi- 
ness was to " trot" in the extreme front, in the capacity 



8 The Snake-Hunters of Western Virginia, 

of guides, scofits, and spies. For a while they were 
with Rosecrans' army of the Kanawha and Gauley, 
and came often in contact there with their rebel rivals, 
the Moccasin Rangers. 

As to their arms, the only peculiar feature, I believe, 
was their variety, each separate Snake-Hunter being at 
liberty to indulge his fancy and consult his early habits, 
the training of his hand and eye, in the choice of his 
weapons. But in their " toggery " everything was pe- 
culiar. A magnificent contempt for uniform distin- 
guished them, and motley was their only wear. No 
two were got up alike, and rarely did the accomplished 
Snake-Hunter permit himself to be seen two days in 
succession on parade, (if their extraordinary system of 
tactics included such a dandyism,) in the same eccen- 
tric combination of " duds." 

But most peculiar of all was their drill. Every move- 
ment was accomplished on the double-quick or in a run. 
They acknowledged no ♦' common time," and if reduced 
to a dead march, they would surely have mutinied. 
This, for instance, was Captain Baggs's very original 
style of dismissing his company : 

" Put down them thar blasted old guns, and be d d 

to you !" 

[Which, being interpreted, is " Stack arms !"] ^ 

" Now to your holes, you ugly rats, and don't let me 
see you again till I want 3'ou !" 

[AVhich, being reduced to the Hardee vernacular, 
means, " Break ranks — march !"] 

Exeunt Snake-Hunters on the run, with grand diver- 
tisement of whoops, yells, and squeals, interspersed 
with lifelike imitations of birds and beasts. 



The Snake- Hunters of Western Virginia. 9 

Once, when the Snake-Hunters were detailed to guard 
some stores between Fairmount and Beverley, two ela- 
borate gentlemen from Philadelphia, who were making 
a tour of that country, had the good fortune to witness 
their very original style of drill, and at the close of the 
performance invited Captain Baggs to take a drink in 
a neighboring rummery. As the tin-cups were laid 
out, one of them expressed his astonishment, not to say 
admiration, of his peculiar style of dismissing, " which 
looked to him very much like a stampede," and was 
curious to know where in the world they were all gone 
to, and how the Captain expected to get them back if 
he wanted them in a hurry. Baggs replied that the 
process was rather difficult to explain, but " If they'd 
jest let that 'ere rum wait a minute, he'd show 'em ;" 
whereupon, going to the door, he fired three barrels of 
his revolver. The echo of the third report was still lin- 
gering among the cliffs when every blessed Snake- 
Hunter burst into the bar-room with a whole menagerie 
of roars and squeals and heehaws, and without question 
or apology called for tin-cups. The demonstration of 
Captain Baggs' style of " falling in " cost the elaborate 
gentlemen from Philadelphia $5. 

On one occasion, Baggs made his way into Floyd's 
camp, near Gauley Bridge, disguised as a Quaker, his 
suit of home-made being surmounted by the regulation 
broad-brim, whose orthodoxy was attested by a small 
Confederate flag. On passing the pickets, his unmis- 
takable innocence being countersign enough, he asked 
to be conducted to the General, to whom he had im- 
portant information to communicate. On being ad- 
mitted to head-quarters, he informed Floyd that a party 



10 The Snake- Hunters of Western Virginia, 



of Union men were organizing in the neighborhood, for 
the purpose of annoying his troops and killing off pick- 
ets — that he had obtained complete knowledge of their 
^strength and places of rendezvous, for the purpose of 
catching them in a trap, and that he had been arrested 
and compelled to take an oath of secrecy. 

Floyd listened to him with confidence, and was in- 
duced to send out three companies, who surprised the 
Union party, and captured most of them, meantime giv- 
ing his Quaker friend a pass through his lines, of which 
the latter availed himself without loss of time. 

But the oream of the story — which, you will please 
to observe, is the Snake-Hunter's own, and not to be 
sworn to by any one but himself — is to be found in the 
fact that the " Union party " in question was in truth a 
guerilla band, mustering by authority of Floyd himself. 

Captain Baggs's style of punishment, like his drill, 
was peculiarly his own. He knocked down the refrac- 
tory Snake- Hunter with his fist, and mauled him to his 
heart's content. He was once tried for cruelty to one 
of his own men while under arrest, but acquitted. 

Baggs, if still alive, is a sturdy, good-looking, swag- 
gering, hard-swearing fellow, of about six feet two 
inches, and quite young. 

»> ■ » ♦ ♦.. << 

Joking on the Battle-Field. — General Howard's 
right arm was shattered by a ball in one of the recent 
battles before Richmond, and it was amputated above 
the elbow. While being borne on a litter he met Gen. 
Kearney, who had lost his left arm in Mexico. " I want 
to make a bargain with you. General," said Howard, 
" that hereafter we buy our gloves together." 



11 

An Inquisitive Eebel, or Tapping the Liglitning. 

The following is a remarkable instance of Federal 
neglect and Confederate impudence : 

The telegraph line between Merhphis and Corinth was 
exceedingly important. General Ilalleck's messages to 
Com. Davis, Gen. Curtis and the commandant of this 
post, have all passed over it. Little of the line was 
guarded, but the rebels refrained from cutting the 
wires ; they found a better use for them. 

The Memphis operators detected something wrong in 
the working of the instruments, and surmised that some 
outsider was sharing their telegraphic secrets. They 
communicated this suspicion to the Superintendent at 
Corinth, who promised to keep a sharp look-out. 

They soon afterwards discovered that their uninvited 
confidant could talk as well as listen. The transmission 
of a message was suddenly interrupted by the ejacula- 
tion, " pshaw !" A moment after it was again broken 
with " Hurrah for Jeff. Davis !" 

Individuality shows itself as well in telegraphing as 
in the footstep, or in handwriting. Mr. Hall, one of the 
Memphis operators, instantly recognized the performer, 
not by his tune, but his time, as a young man formerly 
in Bufialo and other Northern oflSces, but now employed 
by the Confederates. Mr. Hall surprised him by reply- 
ing promptly, " Ed. Saville, if you don't want to be hung, 
70U had better leave ! Our cavalry is closing in on both 
sides of you !" 

There was a little pause, and then the reply : " How 
in the world did you know me ? However, I've been 
here four days, and learned all we want to know. As 



12 Exciting Iricident of Picket Life 



•1 



this is becoming rather a tight place, I think I will 
leave. You'll see me again when you least expect it. 
Good-bye, boys !" 

The rebel operator made good his escape. He had 
cut the wire, inserted a piece of his own, and b}^ a 
pocket instrument, been reading our official despatches. 
Some of the utmost importance, giving the very infer* 
mation most desired by the rebels, were passing, and 
as they were not in cipher, he must have received them. 
One from General Hovey, Commandant of this post, in 
reply to a question from General Halleck, stated the 
precise number of our available men in Memphis (only 
about 3,000), and their exact location ! 

This brilliant but audacious telegraphic feat was 
performed between Corinth and Moscow, and probably 
within fifteen miles of Memphis ! 



An Exciting Incident of Picket Life. 

The outer pickets of the two armies are often posted 
within sight of each other ; and when the land is cleared, 
sometimes in hailing distance. But where the land is 
thickly wooded, as in the majority of cases in this 
vicinity, the outposts are cautiously advanced, and the 
pickets sometimes stand their twenty-four hours with- 
out even seeing the enemy. But in such cases, that 
invincible curiosity, which is so universally prominentl 
in the American mind, tempts some of the men on either^ 
side to advance beyond their posts, simply to gratify 
this peculiar fashion. And this breach of the rules by 
which they are supposed to be governed sometimes ro- 



Exciting Incident of Picket Life. 13 



suits in ludicrous as well as thrilling adventures. A 
case in point, which happened a few days since, created 
some little amusement, and I will relate it as it was told 
to me. 

A member of one of our advanced regiments, being 
stationed at one of our outposts, took his rifle in hand, 
and watching a favorable opportunity, sallied forth in 
advance of his comrades, in hope of meeting something 
to break the monotony which his active mind felt im- 
pressed with, when standing at his post, and vainly 
watching for a rebel to appear before him. lie walked 
musingly along, busying himself b}' " getting the hang 
of the land," until a sudden noise, a short distance in 
front of him, attracted his attention, and brought him 
to halt to learn its cause. It proved to be occasioned 
by a similar genius of the rebel army, \vho was as much 
surprised as himself to discover their close proximity. 
Taking advantage of the nature of the ground, each 
placed himself behind a large tree, to watch for an op- 
portunity to try their riHes. Cautiously putting their 
heads out of their natural breastworks occasionally, 
with the hope of catching the other unguarded, they 
kept up quite a lively bobbing back and forth for some 
time, without any favorable result to either side, until 
at last the Yankee got impatient to cither bagliis game, 
or else got bagged himself. The long suspense was 
too much for his endurance, and being an excellent 
shot, and growing weary of seeking an advantage, he 
was anxious to give the rebel fully a fair show for his 
life, and then trust his own luck to the grooved com- 
panion, which had never failed him. Setting his rifle 
against his v/ooden breastwork, he stepped boldly out 
C 



14 Exciting Incidents of Picket Life, 



from its cover, and exposing his entire person, folded 
his hands upon his breast, and coolly called upon the 
astonished rebel to fire, and be sure of his aim. This 
invitation puzzled him, and he hesitated at first, pro- 
bably being afraid of some Yankee trick, in which he 
would be outwitted ; but at last, dismissing his fears, 
he levelled his piece and fired. Vlt went the minnie 
over the Yankee's head. " Stand up, now, and give, 
me a show," said the live target, stretching his arm 
out, and grasping his rifle. The rebel doubtiiigly 
placed himself in position, and awa}^ sped the bullet, 
striking — the edge of the rebel's coat-sleeve, and, bury-, 
ing itself in a huge tree in the rear, left the rebel un-^ 
hurt. Both parties were puzzled, and remained silent 
a few moments ; but the Yankee was considerably cha- 
grined, and proposed another trial. The rebel assented,.f 
and the second trial was as bloodless as the first. Sq 
was the third, fourth, and fifth. At the last discharge*; 
the Yankee's wonder knew no bounds, when he dis-, 
covered the result, and he immediately 3'elled out :, 
" Damn it ! we can't shoot !" " / believe you'' was 
the response, and they approached each other, laughing 
heartily at the ludicrous turn their encounter had taken, 
and protesting that they had made good shots before, 
if they didn't then. After a merry chat of a few min- 
utes, they bade each other good luck, hoping to meet 
again after the war is over, and wended their way back, 
to tell their comrades of their adventure, which both 
agreed was too good to keep. 



15 

Another Picket Story. 

When our army was in the Chickahominy swamp be- 
fore Richmond, just at the breakfast hour, when the 
aroma of good coffee is doubly delicious, our pickets 
were accosted by a voice from the rebel side, a few 
rods only distant, with — 

" Hallo, there !" 

" Hallo, yourself!" 

" What you doing over there ?'* 

" Making some coffee. Have some ?'* 

" Will you let me come over V 

" Yes." 

" Will you let me come back V 

" Yes." 

♦' Honor bright !" 

« Yes." 

And over he came. His coffee drunk, he smacked 
his lips, and said : 

" Well, that's very nice. We don't get any of that 
over on our side." 

Then casting his eyes around, scrutinissing the neat 
appearance of our men, he continued : 

" Well, you look very comfortable. All of you live 
so?" 

" Yes." 

A few moments more of silence, and he broke out : 

" Well, I like the looks of things here. I believe I 
won't go back." 

And he didn't. 

Elsewhere on the lines they are not quite so sociable, 
though they have generally quitted the practice of 
shootino: our men. 



16 A Picturesque Rebel Army, 

" Where's Beauregard ?" asks one of our men. 

*' Where's Banks ?" sings out the rebel. 

•' Why don't the balloon go up to-day ?" n«^ks a rebel 
near the New Bridge Battery, which iired several shots 
at the balloon the other day. 

*' Waiting for gas," say our men in reply. 

Exchanges of papers have been frequent, and some- 
times they meet half-way, and have a sit-down chat on 
a stump or rail. A couple met in this manner the other 
da}'. 

" Ain't you tired of this war ?" says our man. 

*• Yes ; and I wish I was out of it — it's all a humbug, 
replies the rebel. 

" If they'd leave it to you and me," continued our 
man, "we'd settle it without anymore fighting, wouldn't 
we ?" 

" Yes, sir," said the rebel, with emphasis. 

And so they would. If left for the pickets to settle, 
the whole thing would be soon and amicably arranged, 
and that, too, on the basis of things as they were. 



A Picturesque Eebel Army. 

General Price and his army have been described as 
follows : 

" As few people have an idea of the character of the 
man, I give you a hasty pen-and-ink sketch, as he ap- 
peared to me during a brief interview. He is over six 
feet in height, with a frame to match, full but not portly, 
and straight as an Indian. His carriage is marked with 
dignity, grace, and gentleness, and every motion be- 
speaks the attitude and presence of the well-bred gen- 



A Picturesque Rebel Army. 17 



tleman. He has a large Websterian head, covered 
with a growth of thick white hair, a high, broad, intel- 
lectual forehead, florid face, no beard, and a mouth 
among whose latent smiles you never fail to discover 
the iron will that surmounts all obstacles. 

" The army of General Price is made up of the ex- 
.tremes. It is a heterogeneous mixture of all human 
compounds, and represents in its various elements every 
condition pf Western life. There are the old and the 
young, the rich and poor, the high and low, the grave 
and the gay, the planter and the laborer, farmer and 
clerk, hunter and boatman, merchant and woodsman — 
men, too, who have come from every State, and been 
bronzed in every latitude, from the mountains of the 
Northwest to the pampas of Mexico. 

*' Everj' man has come from his homestead fitted with 
the best and strongest that loving mothers, wives and 
sisters could put upon him. And the spectacle pre- 
sented as they are drawn up in line, whether for march- 
ing or inspection, necessarily forms an arabesque pat- 
tern of the most parti-colored crowd of people upoci 
which human eyes ever rested. Some are in black, full 
citizen's dress, with beaver hats and frock coats ; some 
in homespun drab ; some in gray, blue and streaked ; 
some in nothing but red shirts, pants, and big top-boots ; 
some attempt a display with the old-fashioned militia 
uniforms of their forefathers ; some have banners float- 
ing from their ' outer walls ' in the rear ; some would 
pass for our friend the Georgia Major, who used to wear 

nothing but his shirt-collar and a pair of spurs. 
' Some are in rags, 
Some in bags, 
And some in velve*. gowns.' " 



18 

Vaccination in the Army. 



The troops stationed in the vicinity of Washington 
have passed examination, for the purpose of finding 
those who were in need of being vaccinated. There 
was plenty of fun going on during the examination — 
tlie boys all trying to shirk the operation. They knew* 
that after seven years had passed the inoculation dies 
out, and that it will have to be renewed in order to be 
a preventive against disease : so all of them affirmed 
that they had been vaccinated within five 3^ears. 

'* When were you vaccinated ?" the doctor would ask, 
taking hold of the man's arm. 

" Three or four years ago, sir, he was sure to answer. 

" Are you certain it is no longer ?" 

" Yes, sir." 

And he is passed on as " satisfactory." 

A gentleman from the Emerald Is.le, whom we will 
call Michael Rooney, made his appearance, his left sleeve 
rolled up as far as it w^ould go, when the following scene 
took place : 

" What is 3'our name, my man ?" 

*' Michael Rooney, sur." 

" Well, Michael, were you ever vaccinated ?" 

*' I was that," said Michael, showing a scar just above 
the elbow, probably produced by a cudgel in the hands 
of some enraged countryman. 

*' How long ago was it ?" 

'* How long ago is it ? About five years, sur." 

** Are you certain it is no longer ?" asked the doctor, 
doubtfully. 

Here Michael scratched his head, looked down at his 



CnuldnH Stand it. 19 



gunboats, tlien at the top o:" his tent, and answered 

" Yes, sur ; it's certain I am." 

After a pause, the doctor asked : 

•' Where were you. vaccinated, Michael T 

*' On me arm, sur." 

*' But in what town, city, or country ?" 

" In Dublin county, sur." 

" x\nd how long- liave you been in this country ?" 

" Tin years, sur." 

*' And you were vaccinated five years ago !" exclaimed 
the doctor. " Come, Michael, that will never do. You 
haven't got a very good memory." 

But Michael, nothing daunted, and seeing he was in 
a tight place, broke out with, " Well, sur, I went out 
there on a visit, me sister having died, and sending me 
an invitation to attend the wake." 

Further remarks were drowned in the laughter that 
followed, and Michael's name was put down among 
those who were to be vaccinated on the morrow. 



Couldn't Stand It. 



On our trip up, we had on board a tall, gaunt-looking 
volunteer, whose appearance not onl}^ indicated that he 
w^as lately from a hospital, but that it would perhaps 
have been better for him to have remained there still, 
for he certainly did not seem to be in a fit condition to 
travel. He was from Eastern Ohio, and b}^ some strange 
w^him of his comrades (soldiers have odd notions as to 
names) he had won the cognomen of " Beauregard." 
He was full of dry humor, and it had a peculiar zest, 



••20 Incide7it of the Battle of the Forts, 

coming from such a dilapidated specimen of the human 
kind. I asked him : 

" How long were you in the hospital at ?'* 

" I stay'd just five days— I couldn't stand it any 
longer." 

" Why so ? Were you not well treated ?" 
" Well, you see, when I went in there were six pa- 
tients. The next day they buried one." 
'' Why, what of that ?" 

" Nothing ; only the next day they buried another." 
" They must have been severe cases, and made it 
very unpleasant for you." 

" D__d unpleasant ! I knew my turn would come in 
time. I went in on Monday, and if I stayed I would 
be carried out on Saturday. So I made my calculation, 
and on Friday I packed my knapsack and went away. 
If I had not, I'd surely been buried on Saturday. Six 
days— one man each day. 1 couldn't stand that !" 



An Incident of tie Battle of the Forts. 

Captain Boggs, of the Varuna, tells a story of a brave 
boy, who was on board his vessel during the bombard- 
'ment of the forts on the Mississippi river. The lad, who 
answers to the name of Oscar, is but thirteen j^ears of 
age, but he has an old head on his shoulders, and is 
alert and energetic. During the hottest of the fire, he 
was busily engaged in passing ammunition to the gun- 
ners, and narrowly escaped death when one of the ter- 
rible broadsides of the Yaruna's rebel antagonist was 
poured in. Covered with dirt and begrimed with i)Ow. 



Scenes Between Pickets. 21 



der, he was met by Captain Boggs, who asked, '♦ Where 
he was going in such a hurry ?" " To get a passing- 
box, sir ; the other one was smashed by a ball !" And 
so, throughout the fight, the brave lad held his place 
and did his duty. 

When the Varuna went down. Captain Boggs missed 
his boy, and thought he was among the victims of the 
battle. But a few minutes afterwards he saw the lad 
gallantly swim towards the wreck. Clambering on 
board of Captain Boggs' boat, he threw his hand up to 
his forehead, giving the usual salute, and uttering only 
the words, " All right, sir ; I report myself on board," 
passed coolly to his station." So young a lad, so brave 
and cool in danger, will make himself known as years 
go over his head. 



»> • » » <i- 



Scenes between Pickets, 



One day the Federal pickets hailed their adversaries 
with " Let us stop firing, and have a talk." " Agreed," 
says Secesh, and they held a conversation of about five 
minutes, something after this style : 

Fed. " Why do you want to break up the Govern- 
ment ?" 

Secesii. " Because you Yankees desire to destroy our 
institutions, and place the black on a level with the 
white man." 

Fed. "We ain't Yankees ; we are Western men, and 
don't want to injure you or your institutions, but to 
protect all loyal citizens in all their legal rights." 



2^ Telegraphic Strategy. 

Secesh "Well, thisirTd-d bad ^.ar anyhow. 
Good-bye. , , 

Another Secesh. " Hallo ! stop shooting-, and I will 
sing Dixie, and Bob will dance." 

Fed. "Agreed; g-o ahead." 

Secesh mounts the fence and sings ; Bob comes out 
in plain sight and dances. When the colloquy is over 
they get their places. "Ail right! go ahead!" and 
commence firing-. 

Extraordinary Telegraphic Strategy. 

NOTES FEOM THE DIARY OP A SECESH TELEGRAPH 
OPERATOR. 

A Curious Chapter in the History of the War. 

Knoxville, Juiy .^,oth, 1862 
t/apt. R. A. Alston, A. A. G. : 

Ou the 10th of July, General Morgan, with myself 
»nd a bodyguard of fifteen men, arrived at a point'one- 
ialfamile below Horse Cave, on the Louisville and 
Ivaslmlle Railroad, where I took down the telegraph 
wire and connected my pocket instrument, for the pur- 
pose of taking olTall despatches as they passed through. ' 
Owing to a heavy storm prevailing South, the afmos- ' 
pheric electricity prevented me from con,nuinicatin<. 
with Bowling Green or Kashvillc. The first I heard wat 
Louisville calling Bowling Green. I immediately put 
on my ground wire southward, noticing particularly at 
the same time what change it would make in the cir 
suit. It did malce it more or less stronger ; but the 



Telegraphic Strategy. 23 

storm mentioned affecting telegraphs more or less, 
Louisville did not suspicion anything wrong, and I an- 
swered for Bowling Green, when I received the follow- 
ing message : 

Louisville, July 10, 1862. 

To S. D. Brown, Bow^ling Green : 

You and Colonel Houghton move together. I fear' 
the force of Colonel II. is too small to venture to Glas- 
gow. The whole force should move together, as the 
enemy are mounted. We cannot venture to leave the 
road too far, as they may pass round and ruin it. 

J. T. BOYLE, 
Brigadier General Commanding. 

I returned the usual signal, " 0. K.," after receiving 
the message. 

Louisville immediately called Nashville ; and I answer- 
ed for Nashville, receiving business for two hours. This 
business was mostly of a private nature, and I took no 
copies. It could be plainly perceived from tlie tenor of 
the messages, that Morgan was in the country, and all 
orders to send money or valuables by railroad were 
countermanded, as they supposed. Little did the ope- 
rator at Louisville think all his work would have to be 
repeated the next day. Louisville also sent the news 
of the day, and tluis we were furnished with New York 
and AYashington dates of that day. During the whole 
of this time it was raining heavily, and my situation 
w^as anything but an agreeable one— sitting in the mud 
with my feet in the water Up to my knees. At eleven 
o'clock,'^ p. M., the General being satisfied that we had 
drained Louisville of news, concluded to close for the 



24 Telegraphic Strategy, 



ni^ht, and gave me the following message, dating and 

signing : 

Nashville, July 10, 1862. 
?o IIexry Dent, Provost Marshal of Louisville : 

General Forrest, commanding a brigade,, attacked 
Murfreesboro, routing our forces, and is now moving 
en Nashville. Morgan is reported to be between Scotts- 
ville and Gallatin, and will act in concert with Forrest, 
it is believed. Inform the General commanding. 

STANLEY MATTHEWS, 
Provost Marshal. 

I am not aware that General Morgan claims to be a 
prophet, or the son of a prophet : but Forrest did attack 
Murfreesboro, and rout the enem3\ 

On arriving at Lebanon, July 12, I accompanied the 
advance guard into town, and took possession of the 
telegraph olHce immediately. This, as j^ou know, was 
at half-past three a. i\i. Ladjusted the instrument and 
examined the circuit. No other operator on the line 
appeared to be on hand this early. I then examined 
all tlie despatches of the day previous. Among them I 
found the following : 

Le2ANo:t, July 11, 1862. 
General J. T. Boyle, Louisville, Ivy.: 

I have positive information that tliere are four hun- 
dred marauders within twent}^ miles of this place, on 
the old Lexington road, approaching Lebanon. Send 
reinforcements immediately. 

A. Y. JOHNSON, 
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding. 



Tele^ra'/dc Strategy. 25 



At half-past seven, an operator, signing " Z," com- 
menced calling " B," which I had ascertained by the 
books in the office was the signal for the Lebanon office. 
'I answered the call, when the following conversation 
Ijbetween ♦' Z " and myself ensued : 

: To Lebanon. What news. Any more skirmishing 
jafter your last message ? Z. 

To Z. No. We drove what little cavalry there was 
away. ^' 

To B. Has the train arrived yet ? Z. 

To Z. No. About how many troops on train ? B. 
To B. Five hundred Sixtieth Indiana, commanded 
by Colonel Owens. Z. 

My curiosity being excited as to what station Z was, 
and to ascertain without creating any suspicion, I 
adopted the following plan : 

To Z. A gentleman here in the office bets me three 
segats you cannot spell the name of your station cor- 
rectly. B- 

To B. Take the bet. L-e-b-a-n-o-n J-u-n-c-t-i-o-n. 
Is this not right ? How did you think I would spell 
it? Z- 

To Z. lie gives it up. He thought you would put 
two b's in Lebanon. B. 

To B. Ha r ha I ha I He is a green one. Z. 

To Z. Yes ; that's so. B. 

To Z. AVhat time did the train with soldiers 
pass ? Z. 

To B. 8.30 last night. Z. 

To Z. Very singular where the train is.. B. 

To B. Yes it is. Let me know when it arrives. Z. 
At 8.20, Lebanon Junction called me up and said : 
D 



26 Telegraphic Strategy, 

To B. The train has returned. They had a fight 
with the rebels at New Hope. The commanding officer 
awaits orders here. Z. 

To Z. Giv-e us the particulars of the fight. Colonel 
Johnson is anxious to know all about it. B. 

• To B. Here is Moore's message to General Boyle : 

Lebanon Junction, July 12, 1862. 
To General J. T. Boyle, Louisville : 

A,t eleven o'clock last iiight, at New Hope station, 
part of my command encountered a force of rebel cav- 
alry posted on the county road, one half-mile south of 
the railroad. After a brisk f re of musketr}' for twenty 
minutes, the enemy was routed and fled. Skirmishers 
were sent out in different directions, but were unable 
to find the enemy. At three this morning, apprehend- 
ing that an effort might be made to destroy tlio bridges 
in our rear, we moved down to New Haven, and re- 
mained until after daylight, when the train went back 
to the scene of the skirmish. A Mr. Foreman, of Owen 
county, was found morially, wounded. He reported the 
rebel force at 550, under command of Captain Jack 
jAllen, and that they had fallen back toward Greens- 
burg. One horse was killed, and tlu'ee captured. The 
books of the company were, found in the field. Blood 
was found at different places, showing that the enemy 
was ; severely punished. No casualties 911 oi^r s^de. 
Here with a train, awaiting* orders. ' ^ 

0. F. MOORE, Commanding. 

Lebanon Junction being the repeating station fori 
Louisville business, he forwarded the following fele-l 
grams just from Louisville, nine o'clock, a. 'r.: 



Telegraphic Strategy, 27 



Louisville, July 12, 1862. 
To Colonel Johnson, Lebanon : 

Leave good guard and join Colonel Owens. Pursue 
;iie enemy, and drive him out. Be cautious and vigor-,- 

Ais. Make no delay. '■' 

J. T. BOYLE, 
Brigadier General Commanding. 

By t]ie following, it will appear that Colonel Owens 
must liavo been en route for Lebanon : 

Louisville, July 2, 1802. 
<.;olonel Owens, Lebanon : 

You will move after the enemy and pursue him. 
J.T.BOYLE, 
Brigadier General Commanding. 

Up to the time of cur leaving Lebanon, which was 
about noon, Colonel Owens had not arrived. General 
Morgan told me 1 could close my office ; and to allay . 
for, that evening all suspicion, at Lebanon Junction ^^^ 
not being able to communicate with Lebanon, I des- , 
patched the operator as follows : 

To Z. Have been up all night, and am very sleepy. 
If you have no £ objections, I will take a nap until two^ 
or three o'clock. B. -• , 

To B. All right. Don't oversleep yourself. Z. 

AVondor if I did ! 

\Vc arrived at Midway, between Frankfort and Lex- 
ington, on the Louisville and Lexington Kailroad, about 
ten o'clock, A. M. the next day. At this place I surprised . 
the operator, who was quietly sitting on the platform 
at the depot, enjoying himself hugely. Little did he 
suspect that the much dreaded Morgan was in hjs, 



28 Telegraphic Strategy. 



vicinity. I demanded of him to call Lexinj^ton and in- 
qnire the time of day, which he did. This I did for the 
purpose of getting his style of handling the " key " in 
writing despatches. My first impressions of his style, 
from noticing the paper in the instrument, were con- 
firmed. He was, to use a telegraphic term, a '' plug " 
operator. I adopted his style of writing, and com- 
menced operations. In this office I found a signal book, 
which proved to be very useful. It contained the calls 
for all the offices. Despatch after despatch was going 
to and from Lexington, Georgetown, Paris, and Frank- 
fort, all containing something in reference to Morgan. 

On commencing operations at this place, I discovered 
that there were two wires on the line along this rail- 
road. One was what we term a " through wire," run- 
ning direct from Lexington to Frankfort, and not enter- 
ing any of the way offices. I found that all military 
messages were sent over that wire. As it did not enter 
Midway office I ordered it cut, thus forcing Lexington 
on to the wire that did run through the office. ' 

I tested the line, and found that by applying my 
ground wire it made no difference with the circuit ; 
arid, as Lexington was head-quarters, I cut Frankfort 
off. Midway was called. I answered, and received 
the following : 

Lexington, July 15, 1862. 
To J. W. WooLUMs, Operator, Midway : 

Will there be any danger in coming to Midway : is 
everything right ? TAYLOR, Conductor. 

I inquired of my prisoner (the operator) if he knew 
a man by the name of Ta3dor. He said that Taylor was 
conductor. I immediately gave Taylor the following 
reply : 



Telegraphic Strategy. ^^ 

Midway, July 15, 1862. 

To Taylor, Lexington : 

All riu-ht ; come on. No signs of any rebels here. 

WOOLUMS. 
Tiie operator in Cincinnati tlien called Frankfort. I 
answered, and received about a dozen unimportant 
despatches. He had no sooner finished, when Lexing- 
ton called Frankfort. Again I answered, and received 
the following message : 

Lexington, July 15, 1862. 

To General Finnell, Frankfort : 

I wish you to move the forces at Frankfort on the 
line of the Lexington Railroad immediately, and have 
the cars follow and take tlieni up as soon- as possible. 
Further orders will await them at Midway. I will, in 
three or four hours, move forward on the Georgetown 
pike ; will have most of my men mounted. Morgan 
left Versailles this morning, at eight o'clock, with 850 
men, on the Midway road, moving in the direction of 

Georgetown. ^ , ^tt * t^t^ ' 

Brigadier General WARD. 

This being. our position and intention exactly, it was 

■ thought proper to throw General Ward on some other 

track. So in the course of half-an-hour I manufactured 

and sent the following despatch, AVhich was approved 

by General Morgan : 

Midway, July 15, 1862. 

To Brigadier General Ward, Lexington : 

Morgan, with upw^ards of one thousand men, came 
within a mile of here, and took the old Frankfort road, 
bound, as we suppose, for Frankfort. This is reliable. 

WOOLUMS, Operator., 



30 Telegraphic Strategy, 

In about ten minutes Lexing-ton again called Frank- 
fort, when I received the following : 

Lexington, July 15, 1862, 
To General Finnell, Frankfort : ' 

Morgan, with more than one thousand men, came 
within a mile of here, and took the old Frankfort road. 

This despatch is received from Midway, and is re- 
liable. The regiment from Frankfort had better be 
^e^^^l^^; General WAKD. 

I receipted for this message, and again manufactured 
a message to confirm the information General Ward had 
received from Midway, and not knowing the tariff from 
Frankfort to Lexington, I could not send a formal mes- 
sage ; so, appearing greatly agitated, I waited untilthe 
circuit was occupied, and broke in, telling them to wait 
a minute, and commenced calling Lexington. He an- 
swered with as much gusto as I called him. I tele- 
graphed as follows : 

Frankfort to Lexington: Tell General Ward our 
pickets are just driven in. Great excitement. Pickets 
eay the force of enemy must be two thousand. 

OPERATOR. 
It was now two o'clock, p. m., and General Morgan 
wished to be off for Georgetown. I run a secret ground 
connection, and opened the circuit on the Lexington 
end. This was to leave the impression that the Frank- 
fort operator was skedaddling, or that Morgan's men 
had destroyed the telegraph. 

'We arrived at Georgetown at about the setting of 
*iie sun. I went to the telegraph office, found it locked, 
and inquired for the operator, who was pointed out to 
me on the street. I hailed him, and demandied admis- 



Telegraphic Strategy. 31 



sion into his office. He very courteously sliowed me in. 
Discovering that his instruments had been removed, I 
asked where they were. He said that he had sent them 
to Lexington. I asked him what time he had Lexing- 
ton last. He said, " Nine o'clock, and since that time 
the line has been down." I remarked that it must be 
an extraordinary line to be in working condition when 
it was down, as I heard him sending messages to Lex- 
ington when I was at Midway at one o'clock. This was 
a stunner ; he had nothing to say. I immediately tested 
the line by applying the ends of the wires to my tongue, 
and found the line " 0. K." I said nothing to him, but 
called for a guard of two men to take care of Mr. Smith 
until I got ready to leave town. I did not interrupt 
the lines till after tea, when I put in my own instru- 
ments, and after listening an hour or two to the Yan- 
kees talking, I opened the conversation as follows, sign- 
ing myself Federal Operator : 

To Lexington : Keep mum ; I am in the office, read- 
ing, by the sound of my magnet, in the dark. I crawled 
in when no one saw me. Morgan's men are here, camped 
on Dr. Gano's place. GEORGETOWN. 

To Georgetown : Keep cool ; don't be discovered. 
About how many rebels are there ? LEXINGTON. 

To Lexington : I don't know ; I did not notice. As 

Morgan's operator was asking me about my instruments, 

I told him I sent them to Lexington. He said " D — n 

the luck," and went out. GEORGETOWN. 

f 

To Georgetown ; Be on hand, and keep us posted. 

LEXINGTON. 



32 Telegraphic Strategy, 



To Lexington ; I will do so. Tell General Ward I'll 
stay np all night, if he wishes. GEORGETOWN. 

To Georgetown : Mr. Fuller wishes to know if the 
rebels are there. CINCINNATI. 

To Cincinnati : Yes, Morgan's mon are here. 

GEORGETOWN. 

To Georgetown : How can yon be in tlie office and 
not be arrested ? CINCINNATI. 

To Cincinnati : Oh ! I am in the dark, and am read- 
ing by the sound of the magnet. GEORGETOWN. 

This settled Cincinnati. Question after question was 
asked me about the rebels, and I answered to suit 
myself. 

Things had been going on this way about two hours, 
when Lexington asked me wbere my assistant was. I 
replied, "Don't know." lie then asked me, " Have you 
seen him to-day ?" I replied " No." This was the last 
telegraphing I could do in Georgetown.. ;v/i:^.-«<t ,•. ' 

I then called on Mr. Smith, the operator, who was 
under guard in my room, and informed him that I would 
furnish him with a mule in the morning, and should be 
pleased to have him accompany me to Dixie, as I un- 
derstood he was in the employ of the United States' 
government. This was anj^thing but agreeable to him. 
I thought I had struck the young man in the right place, 
and remarked that had he not sent his instruments to 
Lexington, I should have taken tfiem in preference to 
his person. His face brightened, and an idea struck 
him very forcibly, from which he made a proposition. 
It was to furnish me the instruments if I would release 
him. 



Telegraphic Strategy. 38 

This I agreed to, as such instruments were of much 
more value to the Confederacy than Yankee telegraph- 
ers. I' accompanied him to the servant's room, and 
there, under the bed, in a chest, we found the instru- 
ments. Mr. Smith having given me his word on honor 
that he would not leave town for the next twenty-four 
hours, he was set at liberty to visit his wife and the 
young Smiths. 

On arriving at Cynthiana, I found that the operator 
had skedaddled. I tested the wires, and found no fluid 
from either Covington or Lexington, nor were the wires 
in working order when I left the office next day. 

At Paris, the operator had made a clean sweep. He 
left the night before, taking all his instruments. 

At Crab Orchard there was no office, and I had to 
put in my pocket magnet, which I did at eleven, a. m. 
The first message I received was the following : 

Louisville, July 21, 1862. 
To Colonel Woolford, Danville : 

Pursue Morgan. He is at Crab Orchard, going to 
Somerset. BOYLE. 

No sooner had the Danville operator receipted for 
this, than the operator at Lebanon suggested the fol- 
lowing : 

To Lebanon Junction : Would it not be well for Dan- 
ville and offices below here to put on their ground wires 
when they send or receive important messages, as 
George Ellsworth, the rebel operator, may be on the 
line between here and Cumberland Gap ? 

LEBANON. 
The operator at the Junction agreed with him, and 
' said it would be a good idea, but it was not carried 
into elfect. 



34 . Telegraphic Strategy, 



We arrived at Somerset that evening". I took charge 
of the office. I ascertained from citizens that it had 
been closed three weeks, up to the very hour that our 
advance guard arrived in town. It was just opened 
b}^ the operator from London, who came to work the 
instrument lor the purpose of catcliing Morgan; but/ 
unfortunately for Uncle Sam, the operator, and all con- 
cerned, he had no time to either send or receive a mes- 
sage, but he had it in fine working condition for mc. 
I had been in the office for some time, when Stanford 
called Somerset, and said : 

I have just returned from Crab Orchard, where I have 
been to fix the line. The rebels tore it down. 1 left 
there at eight o'clock. The Ninth Pennsylvania cavalry 
had not then arrived. What time did you get in from 
London? STANFORD. 

To Stanford : Just arrived, and got my office work- 
ing finely. SOMERSET. 

To Somerset : Any signs of Morgan yet ? He left 
Crab Orchard at 1L30 to-day. STANFORD. 

To Stanford : No signs of him as yet. 

SO^MERSET. 

To Somerset : For fear they may take you by sur- 
prise, I would suggest we have a private signal. What 
say you? ' STANFORD. 

To Stanford : Good. Before signing, we will make 
the figure 7. , " SOMERSET. 

This was mutually agreed upon. I asked when Wool- 
ford had telegraphed Boyle that his force was green 
and insufficient to attack Morgan. 

Seeing there was no use of my losing a night'^ rp^r 

■lo oti/i 



Telegraphic Strategy. S-S 

I told Staiiibrd I would retire ; that I had made arrange- 
ments with the pickets to wake me up in case Morgan 
came in. The operator at Lebanon Junction urged me 
to sit up, but I declined, on the ground of being unwell. 
This did not satisfy him, but, after arguing with him 
for some time, 1 retired. 

July 22.— Opened the office at sev^^n o'clock, a. m.; 
informed the Stanford operator that Morgan had not yet 
arrived ; made inquiries about different things ; and, 
after everything in the town belonging to the United 
States was destroyed, the General gave me a few mes- 
sages to send — owQ to Prentice, one to General Boyle, 
and one to Dunlap. They are hereto annexed. 

I then telegraphed home, informing my relatives of 
my whereabouts, what I was doing, &c. I then trans- 
mitted the General's despatches as follows • 

Somerset, July 22, 1862 
George D. Prentice, Louisville : 

Good morning, George D. I am quietly watching the 
complete destruction of all of Uncle Sam's property in 
this little burg. I regret exceedingly that this is the 
last that comes under my supervision on this route. I 
expect in a short time to pay you a visit, and wish to 
know if you will be at home. All well in Dixie. 

JOHN H. MORGAN, Commanding brigade. 

General J. T. Boyle, Louisville : 

Good morning, Jerry. This telegraph is a great in- 
stitution. yo,u should destroy it, as it kqeps you too 
well posted. My friend Ellsworth has all of your dea- 



S6 Telegraphic Strategy. 



patches since the 10th of Julj;, on file. Do you wish 
copies ? 

JOHN II. MORGAN, Commanding brigade. 
Hon. George W. Dunlap, Washington City : 

Just completed my tour through Kentucky — captured 
seventeen cities, destroyed millions of dollars worth of 
United States property ; passed through your county, 
but regret not seeing you. We paroled fifteen hun- 
dred rebel prisoners. Your old friend, 

JOHN H. MORGAN, Commanding brigade. 

[The foregoing despatches were well calculated to 
dumbfound these Yankee dignitaries, who no doubt 
were half inclined to pronounce them some spiritual 
freak ; but for concentrated audacity the following is 
unequalled :] 

GENERAL onDER — NO. 1. 

Headquarters, Telegraph Department of") 
Kentucky, Confederate States of Amer- V 
ICA, Georgetown, Ky., July 16, 1862. ) 

When an operator is positively informed that th© 
enemy is marching on his station, he will immediately 
proceed to destroy the telegraph instruments and all 
material in his charge. Such instances of carelessness 
as were exhibited on the part of the operators at Leba* 
non, Midway, and George/ own, will be severely dealt 
with. By order of 

G. A. ELLSWORTH, 
General Military Sup't. C. S. Telegraph Department.. 



37 

Hurst, the Tennessee Scout. 



Tlie Memphis correspondent of the St. Louis (Mo.) 
Democrat Avrites : 

" The persecutions that Union men have suffered be- 
tween here and the Tennessee river, will never be fully 
known ; all that comes to light only serves to show 
what darker tales may still be unrevealed. General 
Wallace mentioned the name of ' Hurst,' a citizen of 
Purdy, and who has of late become famous as a scout 
attached to our army, and the story of whose adven- 
tures and hair-breadth escapes would, if not well au- 
thenticated, sound like romance. 

. " Suspected of being a Union man, he was twice ar- 
rested and examined by the vigilance committe of 
Purdy, where he lived, and both times was released 
because nothing could be proved against him. Last 
fall he was arrested a third time, charged with being 
a sympathizer with the Federal Government, a traitor 
and a spy, synonymous terms with the rebels. He was 
taken to Nashville ; was tried before a military tribu- - 
Tial, and condemned to be hung. -. He was led to the 
place of execution ; the rope was placed around his 
neck, and he was about to be hoisted to strangle to 
death, when some persons who had formerly been his 
warm personal friends, and who now began to think 
that murder would not be too strong a nam-e for the 
deed they were countenancing, interfered in his behalf, 
and he was released under heavy bonds to report him- 
self every few days and prove his recent whereabouts. 

" In one of these intervals he went to West Tennes- 
see, and on his way back to make his periodical report 
2 



38 Hurst, the Tennessee Scout, 

of himself, stopped at home. As soon as he entered 
his house he was told to fly foi- his life, as a new accu- 
sation of being' a traitor and a spy, had been made 
against him by a malicious, old rebel neighbor. ^ t 

• " He had barely tinie' to make an appointment with | 
a bound boy, whJ loved him more than he did his own- ' 
father, to bring a favorite horse— that somehow es- 
ciiped' the thieving conflscc^tions of the rebels-^to the | 
entrance of acertain alley iii the town. Scarcely had^ ' 
he made the arrangement,- when a file of Confederate 
soldiers was seen coming towards the house. He slip- 
ped out af tVte ba<:.k'door, passed through a neighboring ^ 
garden, and in a minute more was walking composedly* '] 
down the principal street of the town. His bold and 
composed appearance created a stir among the citi- 
zens. Men whispered together, and winked and wag- 
ged their heads significantly, and now and then would 
dart off to give information to the rebel guard, who i 
were searching for him. lie knew his time was shortj , 
that in a few minutes they would close in. upon himi 
from all sides, and his chance of life would not be; 
worth a straw. He quickened' his pace a little, andl 
suddenly entered an apothecary's shop; dozens of. men 
wore watching him. ' Now he is trapped,' they said ; 
' he'll be nabbed as he comes out.' Hurst walked quick- ■ 
ly through into the back room, and called the proprie--- 
tor in after him. The -apathecary entered . smilingly,, 
thinking, doubtless, of how soon he should see his guest; 
dancing upon nothing in the air. The moment he had. 
entered, Hurst grasped him suddenly by the throat, 
and placing a pistol to his ear, told him that if he at- 



39 Burst, the Tennessee Scout, 



tempted to raise the slightest alarm, and did not do 
exactly as he told him, he would fire. • 

" By this time a crowd had collected in front of the 
shop,' and as they could not see what was passing in 
the back room, they waited until the guard should 
come tip to arrest him. Hurst now opened the bacl^ 
door, and looking up the alley, he saw the faithful boy 
with the horse standing partly concealed in the en- 
trance of the alley. He beckoned to the boy, who 
soon brought the horse to him. He then turned to the 
trembling fellow and said, 'Now, sir, in the ,spot .where 
you stand, the riiies of four of my faithful friends are 
covering you ; they are hid in places that you least 
suspect ; and if you move within the next ten minutes, 
they will fire ; but if you remain perfectly quiet, they 
will 'not harm you.' The apothecary had become so 
completely ' frickened,' as the Irish would say, by the 
'touch of cold steel at his cars, that he did not recog- 
nize at once the improbability of his story. In an iri- 
stant more Hurst had put spurs to his horse, and 
dashed out of the alley, leaving the terrified apothe- 
cary gaping after him, and the faithful boy crying at 
his master's danger ; and in another instant the rebel 
soldiers and the crowd entered the store, rushed madly 
through the back room and out at the back door, just 
ill time to see Hurst dashing out of the alley at full 
speed. 

" In a Southern town there are always a number of 
saddled horses tethered about , the streets. Soldiers 
and citizens made a rush for these, and presently a 
dozen riders were thundering pell-mell down the street, 



40 Hurst, the Tennessee Scout, 



in the man hunt. But, thanks to the speed of his 
horse, Hurst soorf distanced them alh 

" There were those in the edge of the town who 
might have stopped him by throwing* rails or other ob-;- 
structions in the way of his horse as he passed ; but' 
perhaps they felt that natural sympathy which all feel 
for a brave man when he is in danger ; or if not, per- 
haps they did not altogether fancy the determined look 
of his countenance, nor the appearance of the cocked 
revolver in his hand. He escaped into the woods, made 
his way to our army near Nashville, and entered with 
the army into the. city, as he said, to defend his bonds- 
men from any damage they might suffer by his non- 
appearance, and report himself as he had agreed. 

" Since that time Hurst has been attached to the ar- 
my as a scout ; and in the country where he was so 
cruelly persecuted, his name became a watchword of 
alarm to the rebels. 

''When our army entered Purdy, the place of hfs 
residence and the scene of his Putnam-like escape, he 
took a comical revenge on the neighbor who had made 
i\\e last charge against him of being a spy,' and which 
came so near finishing his mortal career : 

*' Xs soon as our forces were camped in the town. 
Hurst went to the Commandant, and asked to have two 
soldiers sent Avith him to make an important arrest. 
The men were detailed, and Hurst proceeded with tliem 
to his secession neighbor's house, arrested him and 
commanded him to follow. He then proceeded to the 
county jail, and demanded of the jailor his bunch of 
keys. In the centre of this jail was a curious iron 
cage, constructed so that the occupant could not stand 



The Rebels and tJie Telegrapfu" 41 



nor even sit comfortably ; he must jie down. Ilurst 
unlocked the door and invited his Secesh friend to en- 
ter. Keb began tO' beg. 'Why, Hurst, you don't mean 
to put me in there V ' Pon't I, though ? Here, you sol- 
dier, give me your bayonet !' Old lieb was persuaded, 
and crawled in. Hurst locked the cage door, put 
the key in his pocket, told the two soldiers they might 
return to their quarters, and walked off. He did not 
make his appearance again until the next day, when, 
' very unfortunately,' he had lost the key, and it took 
Qur troops over half a day to cut the old sinner out of 
his uncomfortable quarters." 



The Kebels and the Telegraph. — The rebels have 
used our telegraph wire in Virginia with even more 
success than they did in Kentucky, and with quite as 
much impudence. The moment Fitz Hugh Lee captured 
Manassas, he telegraphed in the name of Gen. Pope's 
Chief of Staff to the proper ofiScer in Washington, 
requesting him to send to the Junction a large supply 
of shelter tents and harness for artillery liorses. The 
order w^as promptly filled, and the rebels were soon 
gladdened by the appearance of a train loaded with 
what they wanted. Jackson, on his arrival, sent a 
message to the Superintendent of Military Railroads, 
coolly asking him to change the time-table on the rpad 
for his accommodation. We shall probably soon find 
these and other equally gratifying correspondence pub- 
lished in the form of a telegraphic operator's diary in 
the Southern newspapers. 



42 ^ , 

Preserying tlie Constitution. 

Among the incidents attending- the ox)crations of the 

celebrated Mackerelville Brig-ade, at or near the Seat of 

'ar, is the foHowing, recounted by the historiog^rapher 

:traordinary of the corps, Mr. Kerr. It seems that 

just at the moment when the Conic Section was pro- 

ceedhig to make a " masterty movement," 

"An aged chap came dashing down from a First 
Family country seat near by, and says he to the Gene- 
ral of the Mackerel Brigade :^'-^' '' "^^"'^ ■or^\c^ii(^■lJ m<j^ 

** ' I demand a guard for my premises immediately. 
My wife," says he, with dignity, " has just been making 
a custard-pie for the sick Confederacies in the hospital, 
and as she has just set it out to cool near where my lit- 
tle boy shot one of your Vandals this morning, she is 
afraid it might be taken by your thieving mudsills 
when they come after the body. I therefore demand 
a guard for my premises in the name of the Constitu- 
tion of our forefathers.' 

" Here Capt. Bob Shorty stepped forward, and says 
he : 

" 'What does the Constitution say about custard-pie, 
Mr. Davis ?' 

" The aged chap spat at him, and says he : ' 

* " I claim protection under that clause which refer, 
to the pursuit of happiness. Custard pies,' says he, 
reasoningl3% * are included in the pursuit of happiness.' 

•' ' That's very true,' says the General, looking kindly- 
over his fan at the venerable petitioner. * Let a guard 
be detailed to protect this good old man's premises. 
We are fig^hting for the Constitution, not against it.* 



A Baring Adventu.e, ^^ 

" A guard was detailed, my boy, with orders to make 
no resistance if they were fired upon occasionally from 
the windows of the house ; and then Capt. Brown pushed 
forward with what was left of Company 3, to engage 
the Confederacy on the edge of Duck Lake supported 
by the Orange County Howitzers." 



-•— *v 



Daring Adventure by Union Soldiers. 

Major Wynkoop, of the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry, 
was sent from Nashville, with fourteen men, to make 
a reconnoissance about Murfreesboro. Upon arriving 
there he found the town occupied by rebels, and not 
beino- able to obtain the information desired, determined 
to enter the town. As he entered he was hailed with 
joy by the inhabitants and soldiers, thinking it was 
their own scouts. They passed through the town. As 
.they passed by the square it was full of rebel soldiers. 
The Major obtained all the information needed ; but as 
he was coming out of the town a rebel rode up and, 
looking him in the face, exclaimed, " Union men, by 
God '" But the Major boldly charged through the rebel 
hosts, now gathered in his front, and brought off all his 
men in safety. After crossing the bridge, three miles 
south of Murfreesboro, his gallant men tore up the 
planks, and thus detained the pursuing rebel cavalry 
several hours. During the interim the Major rested his 
men and horses, and by the time the rebels were able 
to effect a crossing, he was ready to go on. His camp 
vas reached without the loss of a man. 



Burnside and the Fislierman, 



Gcii. Burnside was recently sailing" outside of Fort 
Macon in a 3'aclit, when he encountered an old fisher- 
man. 

"AVhat news ?" inquired the General. 

' Well," answered the old fisherman, " they do say 
old Burnside is down here, sword in hand, givin' 
'em " 

" Do 3'ou know Burnside ?" he asked. 

*'No," was the response ; "but I should like to see 
him. I should know him if I were to see him, for I've 
seen his picture." 

The General removed his hat, displaying his bald 
head, 

" Halloo !" exclaimed the fisherman, " you are the 
old fellow himself, ain't you ? You look just like the 
picture Sam Thompson brouglit down from Hatter aa. 
How are you, General ? I'm glad to see 3'ou." 



Drubbing a Prisoner. — A correspondent of a Phila- 
delphia journal gives the following incident of the field f 
in the late skirmish before the rebel capitol. An Irish | 
lad brought in a prisoner. The said prisoner became 
ver}^ insolent. Pat threw down his musket and ban- 
tered the chivalric Virginian, to a fist fight. Both 
pitched in, and it was not long ere the Virginian got a 
severe drubbing. The Irishman threw him around like 
an old pillow. This was witnessed by all the troops on 
the outposts. 



[ 



4^ 

The Burning of Cotton. 

The cotton burning around Memphis, furnislies some 
instances of brutal cruelty that '' harrow up the soul." 

One poor farmer, a little way from town, was favored 
by Providence with five bales. These, with a rifle that 
cost him |25, about comprised his worldly possessions. 
Upon these his family were entirely dependent. The 
regimental cotton-burners came. ' They spoke in the 
name of the Conthieveracy. The poor man implored 
that his five bales might be saved. They were all the 
property he had in the world. This was impossible. 
He begged that one bale might be left to him. The 
cotton-burners 'were inexorable. They applied the 
torch. The poor man's five bales were consumed. The 
cotton-burners turned rifle-searchers. The poor man 
said, "It cost me §25. Give me five for it ; I havn't a 
dollar in the world." The cotton-burners were deaf to 
every entreaty of the poor man. They destroyed his 
cotton, and carried away his rifle, lie is in that city 
now, begging for food and clothing. 



A Louisiana planter, under similar circumstances, 
produced a very dissimilar result. The cotton-burners 
came, they saw, they — departed. 

" We have come to burn your cotton, sir." 

" By what authority ?" 

" By the authority of Gen. Beauregard." 

*' You will not burn my cotton." 

" We will burn j^our cotton." 

•' Go about it, then. But it is my opinion, gentlemen, 
that you will not burn it." 



46 The Burning of Cotton. 



" What do you pi'opose to do ?. You don't mean to 
say that you will show any opposition to our autho- 
rity r 

*' I simply mean to say that you will not burn my 
cotton. Bob, bring- a coal of fire." 

The fire is brought. 

"Gentlemen, there is the fire, and yonder are one 
tiundred bales of cotton. Proceed." ftJ 

" Your conduct is very extraordinary^ sir. We 
should like to know what 3'ou mean." 
ojK" AYell, sir, I mean that if j^ou attempt to Ijurn that 
cotton, I will scatter 3'our brains so far and wide tliat 
no power in heaven or earth can bring- them together 
again. Here, bo3^s, that cotton is ^^ours ; defend it, or 
starve." 

" D — d strange conduct," mutters I^Ir. officer, sul- 
lenly. " We'll attend to your case, sir. We are going 
down the river ; we will give you a visit on our 
return." 

*' Do. Whenever you make up joxvc mind to burn 
my cotton, b^^ all means come and burn." 

The cowed officer and his posse " fell back in good 
order." The valiant Louisianian saved his cotton. He 
has had no second visit from Beauregard's cotton- 
burners. I have 3''et to bear of an instance of volun- 
tary submission to this cruel cotton order of Beaure- 
gard. In thousands of cases, remonstrance, threats of 
men, and tears of women and children, were of no 
avail— Cor. N. Y. World. 



ii- 

AnotW Pemale Sscesli. 

The receipt of the neJTofthe battles before Kich- 
^"IdoccasLed a tumuHnousfiatter a^o.g the r^^^^^^^^^^ 
Ex-Senator Nicholson took a prominent part, and (.en 
jlegley ordered his arrest. 
• ° " ORDEU OF AKREST. 

" Bead Quarters V. S. Forces, } 
Columbia, July 28. ^ 

'■■ Capt. Brinker, Provost-Marshal : \ 

=;;, PKce in close confinement, on soldiers tare. 
Hoi I P. Nicholson, an avowed traitor to his conn- 
Sr-aua for nsing. tl^eJoUowin, lan.u^^^^^^^^ ^J^ 
had been a sympat! sei wi«J «'« ^ ,' j^^^^ ^^^^e up 

tirmf;:?tVS''tl!r::n^nc*^^-*^-^--"'^ 
take the o''tt'-j^^g_ g_ nEGLEY, Brigadier-General 
A large number of gentlemen called "P-. Gei,«al 

tliberately announced that he ^^^^^^ ^: 

T:S:Xnoonofhis arrest, the traiter-swi.^^^^^^^^^ 
upon Gen. Negley, and asked permission to take 

nrL:sstTh:r^«i--"^p^^^^^ 

,„,Vi thing ; that her husband .vas prepaied for 
consequences, and must suffer them. , 



48 A Female Secesh. 



" Bnt " said the lady, " where is he confined ?" 

*' In the guard-house, madam, with a soldier who ha« 
been imprisoned fur stealing," was the General's an- 
swer. ■»» 

Tliis enraged the lady, and she vehemtly inquired of 
the officer if he meant to compare the crime of her 
husband to the petty transgressions of a low black- 
guard of a soldier ? 

" Madam," replied the General, " you ask me a 
direct question, and I am not in the least inclined to 
evade an answer ; but you must not consider me 
indelicate when I inform you that your husband richly 
deserves hanging ; and that, in my estimation, there ia 
no crime so enormous as treason to the United States 
Government." :^^o:Uodo-r -^.1) djiv/ v>:^n[|. 

Mrs. Nicholson immediately bestowed upon General 
Negley the vilest of abuse, and exhausted the vocabu- 
lary of opprobrious epithets in her rage, telling him 
that her husband " was willing to take the oath with 
her consent, but that he should rot in jail first." 



Rebel Practices. — The correspondent of the World, 
now with General Milroy's division in the Shenandoah 
Valley, says that the rebel guerillas lately took two 
Union soldiers prisoners, and having tied them each to 
a tree, as they thought securely, left them in the woods 
to starve to death. One of them, however, managing 
to disengage himself, untied the other, and thus sjaved 
their lives. Gen. Pope has issued a bull, in which he 
threatens to shoot every guerilla he captures. 



49 
Probable Tragic Close of an Eventful Career. 

Cleggett Fitzhugh was one of the renegade Union 
nen who were caj^tured in the cavalry dash on Long- 
street's train near Harper's Ferry. 

He has been engaged in business for an extensive 
ironmonger near the Maryland line. He acquired no- 
toriety as tlie man who (in company with Daniel Logan, 
1 celebrated negro catcher) arrested Cook, the confrere 
of John Brown. Cook had escaped, and taking the 
mountainous ranges, had kept them until he had got 
within the lines of Maryland. Fitzhugh met him when 
Cook, exhausted for want of food, ventured down from 
the mountains to seek it. Meeting Fitzhugh, he gave 
him the masonic sign, which the latter returned. 

Cook at once entered into conversation, and told him 
who he was, and his condition, asking for relief. Fitz- 
hugh told him to come with him. Logan, at a given 
sign from Fitzhugh, seized Cook from behind, and being 
a powerful man, he held Cook fast. The latter resisted 
desperately, and would have eluded even Logan's 
grasp, had not Fitzhugh interfered with them.^ The 
force of the two athletic men was too great for Cook, 
and he was taken to jail, in Pennsylvania, remanded by 
Gov. Packer to Virginia, and hung. 

Logan is said to have often told as a good joke, 
among his companions, in boon moments, that Cook 
had said to him and Fitzhugh that he knew he would 
die, but that they would end their days upon the scaf- 
fold. This seems likely to become true. Fitzhugh is 
incarcerated, and is not a prisoner of war. Logan is 
now under arrest, and, if justice be done, will be 
E 



50 Gen. McCaWs First Escape, 



retained and tried, if not for treason, most probably 
high crimes and misdemeanors. Cook may have j 
phesied truly. 



Gen. McOairs First Escape. 

Gen. McCall had a narrow escape of capture on r 
evening of the 27th June, after the battle of Gaine 
Hill. After the battle was over, Gen. McCall decid 
to seek the house which had been Gen. Porter's liej 
quarters in the early part of the day ; and, attend 
by an officer of his stah*, Major Lewis, of the PennS' 
vania Artillery, started out in pursuit of it. TbI 
mistook the road in the darkness ; and after ridi 
nearly a mile, they came to a house which proved I 
be a hospital. They were met at the door by a you^ 
assistant-surgeon, who informed them he had sii 
wounded soldiers there, that he belonged to the re| 
lar IT. S. Army, and that the rebel pickets were,, 
thrte sides of him. He said that as it nvas neuti 
ground, the}^ had not attempted to molest him, W 
seriously advised the General and Major to get ba; 
to their lines as soon as might be. This advice thi 
proceeded to avail themselves of, and turned the c<: 
ner of the hospital to return, but they had not gO' 
ten yards, before they were greeted with the shr 
sharp, " halt" of the sentry. An orderly who li 
attended them advanced at the command *' advaito 
friend, and give the countersign, " and respon(|d 
*• escort with the General." " What is your name- 



Gen. McCaWs First Escape. 51 



:ried tlie guard. " Give him my name," said the 
Greneral. " General McCall," answered the orderly. 
" General what ?" said the sentry. " Gen. McCall," 
said the orderly ; and the picket, not seeming to recog- 
nize or understand the name, the General rode forward 
and repeated, " General McGall." «' Of what army V 
asked the sentinel. '♦ The army of the Potomac," re- 
phed the General. " Yes, yes," said the guard ; " but 
on what side ?" " The command of Major-General 
McClellan," said the General. " Th(5 h— 11 you do," 
yelled the sentry, and iie raised his piece, two others 
doing the same, who had remained quiet. The Major, 
who it seems had previously " smelled a rat," leaving 
detected the Southern accent in the queries, had taken 
the precaution to quietly wheel his horse, and as they 
fired, sank his spurs into his horse and plunged for- 
ward, taking the General's horse by the rein. They 
dashed off, and although fired at more than twenty 
times by the now aroused enemy, succeeded in getting 
back safely to camp, having suffered no injury except 
to their horses, all of which were hit, and one killed. 



What they all Need. — An oificer of an Indiana reg- 
iment in passing through one of the streets of Norfolk, 
met a pretty little girl of eight years and gently patted 
her on the head, when the mother, who observed it 
from a window, rushed to the door and bawled out at 
the top of her voice, " Come right straight in the house, 
Susannah, and I will wash your head !" 



52 

A New York Heroine. 

A correspondent of the Philadelphia Press, writing 
from Tunstall's Station, says : 

"As we passed the house of Dr. Webb, about twQ| 
miles back on our march, there appeared, by the road- 
side, a female dressed in soldier clothes, who, witlij 
tears running down her cheeks, pitcously begged for 
permission to go on the baggage train and go with the 
troops. She was a most melancholy sight ; and, on 
inquiry I learned her simple stoii}\ 

" She came from Chenango county, New York, and 
her hu^and was an armorer in the 61st New York 
regiment. Ever since his enlistment she had gone 
with him, acting as mirse for the sick soldiers. At 
Alexandria she became separated from the regiment, 
and lost all her baggage. Without mone}^ friends, or 
advice, she knew not what to do, but finally concluded 
to unsex herself, and did so. She joined a Pennsylva- 
nia dragoon corps, but was soon discovered, An offi- 
cer promised to take charge of her. He cared for her 
a few da3^s, and, when he thought his time hail arrived, 
made infamous proposals to her, which she resisted 
This angered him, and he turned her out in a strange 
land, among an unfriendly people and a dangerous and 
in man}" cases, a brutal army. At the doctor's hous( 
they roughly told her she must move on, and she had 
come to the roadside to beg permission to go and find 
her husband, no matter in what capacity, so that it be 
an honorable one- 

" I am rejoiced to state that she at last found shelter,^ 
The kind hearts of the teamsters of Gen. Slocum's bri« 



Not unless they lay down their Arms, 53 



gade were soon touched ; she was mounted on a wag-on 
and went on her way happy. 

" The woman's sex could easily have been discovered. 
Yoic^, looks, actions and shape were all tell-tales, 3^et 
she had successfully passed guards and broke through 
orders, until the brutality of a man who should be 
instantly cashiered, turned her out by the roadside, 
homeless and friendless. After this, let no one think 
that American women have degenerated in these days 
of misfortune and trouble." 



"Not unless they Lay Down their Arms." 

A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, writ- 
ing from one of the camps near Corinth, relates the fol- 
lowing anecdote : 

" An Indiana Chaplain selected, for singing, the hymn 
commencing, 

' Show pitj, Lord ; 0, Lord forgive, 
Let a repentant rebel Uve,' 

Pie had scarcely uttered the last word of this line, when 
a private soldier in his congregation — an old man and 
a zealous christian— earnestly cried out: 

" No, Lord, unless they lay down their arms." 
While the clergyman was offering the concluding 
prayer, a rifle shot was heard as if from our pickets, a 
mile beyond. The report of the gun was immediately 
followed by an exclamation from the same venerable 
Hoosier — 

" Lord, if that's a Union shot, send the bullet 
straight : an' if it ain't, hit a tree with it, Lord !" 



54 

An F. F. V. Outwitted by a Cliicago Fire Zouave. 

An industrious and shreu'd typo from the Queen 
City of the Lakes, under Col. Ellsworth, was out on 
picket duty in the Old Dominion, when a haui^hty son 
of the chivalry rode up, driven of course by his ser- 
vant. Zoo-zoo stepped into the road, holding his bayo- 
net in such a way as to threaten horse, negro and white 
man at one charge, and roared out " Tickets." Mr. V. 
turned up his lip, set down his brows, and by other 
gestures indicated his contempt for such mudsills as 
the soldier before him, ending by handing liis pass 
over to the darkey, and motioning him to get out and 
show it to Zoo-zoo. 

" All right," said the latter, glancing at it, " move 
on"— accompanying the remark with a jerk at the 
coat-collar of the colored person, which sent him spin- 
ning several paces down the road. '' Now, sir, what 
do you want?" addressing the astonished white man. 
White man had by this time recovered his tongue. 
" What ? I want to go on, of course. That was my 

pass." 

Can't help it," replied Zoo ; " it says pass the 
bearer, and the bearer of it has already passed. You 
can't get two men through this picket on one man's 

pass." 

Mr. V. reflected a moment, glanced at tlie bayond 
in front of him, and then called out to his black man tc 
come back. Sambo approached cautiously, but fel 
back in confusion when the - shooting-stick was bran 
dished toward his own breast. 

♦' Where's your pass, sirrah ?" 



55 ^Take Your Choice, Madam. 



" Here, massa," presenting the same one he had 
received from the gent in the carriage. 

" Won't do," replied the holder of the bayonet. 
*' That passes you to Fairfax. Can't let an}^ one come 
from Fairfax on that ticket. Move on." A stamp of 
the foot sent Sambo down the road at a hard gallop. 

" Now, sir, if you stay here any longer, I shall take 
you under arrest to headquarters," he continued. 

Mr. V. caught up his reins, wdieeled around, and went 
off at the best trot his horse could manage, over the 
*' sacred soil." Whether Sambo ever hunted his mas- 
ter up, is not known. 



Take your Choice, Madam. 

At Nashville the ladies have been peculiarl}' spiteful 
and bitter against the hated rival which M'aves victo- 
rious over the stars and bars. It sometimes happens, 
however, that they are compelled to render a formal 
obedience at least, to the spangled folds. 

Over the large gate at the Provost Marshal's splen- 
did headquarters — Elliot's Female School — waves a 
Union flag. A very ardent secesh lady, who wished to 
see Col. Matthews, was about to pass through the gate, 
when looking up she beheld the proud flag flapping 
like an eagle's wing over his eyrie. Starting back 
horror struck, she held up her hands and exclaimed to 
the guard : 

'•' Dear me ! I can't go under that dreadful Lincoln 
flag. Is there no other way for me to enter ?" 

'• Yes, madam," promptly replied the orderly ; and 
turning to his comrade, he said : 



56 An Escape. 



" Here, orderly, bring out that rebel flag- and lay it 
on the ground at the little gate, and let this lady walk 
over it !" 

The lady looked bewildered, and after hesitating a 
moment, concluded to bow her head to the invincible 
Goddess of Liberty, whose immaculate shrine is the 
" Star Spangled Banner." The rebels may all just as 
well conclude to follow her example. 

»^— «-*-^» — ^4 • 



An Escape. 

At the West Point battle, Lieut. Montgomery, of 
Gen. Newton's staff, a dashing officer, had a remarkably 
narrow escape. He rode into the very midst of the 
enemy, when some of them cried out, 

" Where is Col. Hampton ?" 

" About ten rods off," v\-as the answer of Montgom- 
ery, as he put spurs to his horse and dashed away. A 
volley of musketry followed him, piercing his horse in 
a dozen places, and killing him. The ofQccr fell unhurt, 
but feigned death. The rebels rushed forward, turned 
him over, making remarks which excited his risibilities, 
when he burst out laughing. They jerked him up with 
curses, and were moving awa}' with him when a shell 
from Hcxamer's 1st New Jersey Artillery burst among 
them. This was followed by another in such close 
proximity that they droi)ped their prisoner, who ex- 
claimed, 

- Go in, boys— I'll follow." 

Th'ey ran in one di»-ection, and he in another, making 
good his escape. 



57 

A Maryland Unionist, 

The rebel officers treated the citizens of Frederick 
with a g-reat deal of courtesy, but generally forced upon 
them their worthless Confederate notes and scrip, in 
exchange for provisions, or anything else tliey desired. 
The merchants and others who had articles to sell, upon 
the rebel forces entering the town, closed their places 
of business and refused to sell. Stuart threatened to 
use force unless the stores were opened, and then the 
merchants concealed the bulk,of their stocks, and open- 
ed their doors. One of the largest harness-makers in 
town saved his stock by placing small lots at the houses 
of his friends, leaving in his store a small quantity of 
the most undesirable articles. At one store, Colonel 
Gordon, (of the Charleston Mercury, and formerly of 
New Bedford, Mass.,) called at a store, and insisted 
upon paying for goods he wanted in Confederate notes. 
The merchant happened to be a man who did not hesi- 
tate to utter his Union sentiments freely, and he told 
the gallant rebel that the Confederate notes were not 
worth the paper they were printed on. The Colonel, in 
reply to this, asked, " And pray what may be your po- 
litical sentiments ?" 

Merchant : I am a Union man, sir, and always intend 
to remain one. 

Colonel : Indeed ! are there many people like you 
here ? 

Merchant: Yes, sir. We have voted on Secession, 
and this district gave three thousand majority for the 
Union. 

Colonel : Yes, at the point of the bayonet. 



58 Jokmo; on the Battle Field, 



Merchant : No, sir ; there were neitlier bayonets nor 
muskets to intimidate us. Every man was free to vote 
as he pleased. 

Colonel : Then we have been most damnably deceived. 
., The merchant then wanted to know why the rebels 
wanted to disturb the peace of the State, by coming 
here, to which the Colonel again replied that they had 
been deceived — that they had received thousands of 
letters from Maryland, stating that the people were 
oppressed by the Lincoln government, but that they 
(the rebel troops) had been treated since their arrival 
here d — d coolly, and " I feel like li — 11." 

The above is from a highly respectable citizen of 
Frederick, and can be relied upoii as true. 



Joking on the Battle Field. 

A correspondent of the New York Tribune, in de- 
scribing the first day of the battle of Fair Oaks, thus re- 
fers to the unsuccessful attempt of the 55th New York 
to go into lire : 

" Their movement in response to the order * For- 
ward !' Avas not impulsive from front to rear. It hitched 
in sections, like the drawing out of the joints of a field- 
glass. Omen of evil ! In 30 minutes red-capped and 
red-trousered men, mostly without their muskets, were 
under the fire of the scorn and the jeering of the New 
Y'ork 62d — a fire more galling and insupportable, as it 
seemed to me, than any that ever spouted from mus- 
kets. * Mounsheer, the muss is the other way !' ' IIello> 
lobsters ! we are Union men — we ain't rebels. What 



California Joe at his Work. 59 

are you running at us for V ' The 62d is good ^lelter ; 
fall in behind !' Not a wrathful reply was made. The 
bursting of the rebel shells overhead, the screaming of 
their solid long shot, and the cutting of the tree tops, 
made the place and the time totally unsuited for repar- 
tee or discussion. The 62d opened its laughing ranks, 
and the gory-colored, but unbloody, passed through and 
passed on." 



California Joe at his Work. 



In this long range business, California Joe is about 
as usual, and adding to his laurels, still using his own 
pet rifle. Speaking of California Joe, I must licre be 
pardoned a digression in stating a fact about him that 
has never yet found its way into type. Bachelor that 
he is, and of rough exterior, he has a heart as big as 
an ox, " rudely stamped, and wanting love's majesty." 
Shortly after joining the regiment he drew up his will, 
giving, in case of his death in battle, $60,000, on de- 
posit in the Merchants' Bank, Philadelphia, to the 
widows and orphans of those of the regiment killed 
during the war. I was,, told this fact by an officer of 
the regiment who witnessed the will. And here is an 
incident of which he is the hero. 

Our General was near one of the bridges, giving 
directions about the work. A rebel sharpshooter had 
been amusing himself, and annoying the General and 
other officers, by firing several times in that directiop, 
and sending the bullets whistling in nnwelcome prox- 
imity to their heads. 



60 California Joe at his Work, 



*' My man, can't you get your piece on that fellow 
who is firing- on us, and stop his impertinence ?" asked 
'the General. 

" I think so," replied Joe, and he brought his tele- 
scopic rifle to a horizontal position. 

" Do you see him ?" inquired the General. 

« I doV' 

" How far is he away ?" 

" Fifteen hundred ^^ards. 

*' Can you fetch him ?" 

" I'll try." 

And Joe did try. He brought his piece to a steady 
aim, pulled the trigger, and sent the bullet whizzing on 
its experimental tour, the officers meantime looking 
through their field glasses. Joe hit the fellow in the 
leg or foot. He went hobbling up the hill on one \q^ 
and two hands, in a style of locomotion that was amus- 
ing. Our General was so tickled — there is no better 
word — at the style and celerity of the fellow's retreat, 
that it was some time before he could get command of 
his risibles sufliciently to thank Joe for what he had 
done. 



The "Wrong Way. — A member of the regimental staff 
of the 8th Alabama regiment, lying at Kichmond, lost 
himself one morning in the woods. Coming upon the 
Union pickets, he Avas brought to a stand, and mistak- 
ing the character of the men, inquired for his regiment. 
The picket directed him to the Colonel's tent for infor- 
mation. He went there, and was told to consider him- 
self a prisoner. He merely replied, " A d — d funny 
miatake of our picket to send me the wrong way." 



61 

Carson, the Scout. 



Among the killed at Pittsburg Landing was " Young 
Carson the Scout," a man of wonderful daring and 
energy, reckless of danger, but prudent, acute, active, 
and intelligent, rivalling in all these qualities his name*- 
sake of the Plains and Kocky Mountains. His name in 
full was Irving W. Carson. He was born in Scotland, 
although in physique he was a true type of the men of 
the North-west. He emigrated from his native coun- 
try, then a mere youth, to Chicago, Illinois, in the 3^ear 
1853, and obtained employment in the Illinois Central 
Machine-shops. Subsequently he left the building and 
repairing of engines to run them, and for a long time 
faithfully fulfilled the duties of an engineer upon the 
above road. Naturally roving in his disposition, and 
undecided as to his calling, about two years since he 
changed avocations abruptly and singularly, and enter- 
ed a la'^ office in Chicago as a lawyer's clerk. He was 
a faithful student, rose rapidly in his profession, and 
about the time the war broke out, was admitted to the 
bar. Nature, however, had not destined him for the 
forum, and it is a matter of doubt whether he would 
have succeeded in the practice of his profession. At 
the first call for volunteers, young Carson abandoned 
his calling, and enlisted as a private in Barker's Dra- 
goons, in which company he received- his first lessons' 
in the school of war. Subsequently he was attached to 
General Prentiss' staff, as a scout, at Cairo, then went 
into the same service under General Grant, whose con- 
fidence he enjoyed thoroughly. General Grant entrust- 
ed to him the most delicate and dangerous missions, 
G 



€2 Carson^ the Scout. 



ail of which he fulfilled to the very letter of his instruc- 
tions. At the time of his death, he had just returned to 
General Grant with the intellig-ence that General Buell's 
reinforcements were coming up, delivered his message, 
stepped back, and that instant a cannon ball took off 
his head. 

Carson was about six feet two inches in height, very 
slight, but well knit, sinewy, alert, and handsomely 
formed. , His face was thin, and bronzed by exposure 
to all kinds of weather ; his cheek-bones high and pro- 
minent, his eyes large, black and })ierci]ig,,and hi-s 
hair, which he always wore very long, as black as a 
raven's. He combined in his personal appearance the 
peculiarities of an Indian with a native Southerner, .^a 
fact which was of great advantage to him in his scout- 
ing expeditions among the rebels. He was very taci- 
turn and non-communicative, even among liis friends ; 
made little conversation, and appeared and disappeared 
like a flash. Vidocq himself could not have been more 
mysterious. We have known him to retire early in the 
evening, and would find him in bed early in the morii- 
ing, t^\dyet during the night he had ridden many miles. 
He A^lis seldom absent an^^ length of time, as his cxpe- 
, ditions required the utmost despatch. We have known 
him to come into the room, hastily seize his. saddle, 
spurs, and pistol, mount his horse— and lie was a splen- 
did horseman---daSh off in , a, direction no one ever 
thought of taking, and only a f^w hours after would be 
strolling about the St. Charles like some awkward rustjc 
just in from the Egyptian swamps. 

His trip to Columbus, Kentucky, was an instance of 
the manner in which he accompli siied his duties. He 



Carson, the Scout. 63 



rose early that morning, arrayed himself in a rough 
homespun suit of blue — a style of clothings which alter- 
nates with the " butternut " among the rebels — rowed 
across the Ohio to the Kentucky shore, tied up his skiff, 
and struck off through the woods and swamps until he 
reached a corn-crib, near which a wagon and pair of 
mules were standing. Carson rapidly loaded the wagon 
with corn from the crib, jumped aboard, and drove off 
at a rapid pace for Columbus. He reached the town 
about ten o'clock in the forenoon, having passed the 
enemy's pickets without trouble, and came rattling 
down the bluff behind the town at a merr}^ pace. Tlie 
rebel General Polk confiscated the wagon, corn, and 
one of the mules, magnanimously allow^ing him the 
other to return with. Before leaving, hov/ever, he ob- 
tained permission to go through the fortifications, the 
rebels little dreaming of the real character of the awk- 
ward Kentucky farmer they w^ere admitting* into their 
works. He spent two or three hours upon the blulf, 
ascertained the number of guns, their calibre and range, 
a rough estimate of the forces, and made a diagram of 
tlie spot while in the w^ater battery. He ate dinner in 
one of the log houses used as barracks by the soldiers, 
and about two o'clock left the town upon his mule, with 
his thumb upQu his nose, and fingers gyrating Colum- 
busward. At eight o'clock the same evening he was 
seated in the supper-room of the St. Charles at Cairo. 
We were present wheii our forces occupied Columbus, 
and found his diagram w\as correct in all its particulars, 
Tlie same diagram appeared in many papers after the 
evacuation, to the correspondents of which he had fur- 
nished it. 



64 Carson, the Scout, 



He was present at the battle of Donelsoii as General 
Grant's special courier. Upon the Sunday when the 
rebel Buckner sent in his flag of truce. ]\c v?.--. ordered 
to go to the right wing and tell General AValh.co, Gen- 
eral McClernand and Colonel Oglesbe to storm th<.- works 
of the enemy at once. In a letter written to n Iriend 
in this city, which we have before us, alluding i.) this 
order, he sa^^s : " I never went with a despatch to i\nj 
place in my life faster than I did with that one. I felt 
as if I wanted to see the last man wiped out. I have 
got a natural hatred for traitors, and never intend to 
let any chance slip, when I can dispose of them in a 
decent way." 

After the battle, he found many letters in the rebel 
ca,mp. Among them was one from an interesting young 
woman in the Southern part of Tennessee, writing to 
her brother, desiring him to capture a live Yankee, and 
send him to her for a pet. On one of his scouting ex- 
23editions, some time after, he made it in his way to call 
upon the identical 3"0ung lady. He went to the house, 
and inquired for the damsel that wanted a pet. She 
soon made her appearance. He told her he had been 
captured at Fort Donelson b}'- her brother, and had been, 
sent to her as a pet, and very politely informed her iioj 
was at her service. The young woman looked horLi|. 
fied, and said there must be some mistake. Carson 
said there was not ; that he was going to live South in 
the future, and more than that, was bound to be her. 
pet, and would make himself as useful as possible, 
strongly intimating that she might do the same by get- 
ting him some dinner. The young woman, scared (>i\t 
of her senses, complied, and furnished him an excellent 



Carson, the Scout, 65 



nipal, during which he showed her the letter, and in- 
formed her that her brother was a prisoner in the Fed- 
eral camp. The 3^oiing woman went into hysterics, and 
the whole family commenced a sort of Tennessee dance. 
By this time his arrival was noised abont in the neigh- 
borhood, and as preparations were making' which 
looked to an unpleasant state of things for Carson, he 
mounted his horse, and was off and out of sight not a 
minute too soon for his safety. 

His hatred of traitors was most bitter and intense — 
whence did speak of them, it was- only to denounce 
them 111 the most violent terms. Even in his sleep he 
would toss about restlessly, and mutt(3r his denuncia- 
tions. One night we disthictly remember at the " St. 
Charles," when he jumped from his bed and frantically 
rushed about the room, cursing secessionists, and thrust- 
ing his cutlass into the bureau, chay-s and wall Avith 
desperate strength. The next instant, a correspondent, 
lying in another bed, was horrified to behold him rush- 
ing at him and thrusting the cutlass into the sheets, at 
the same time expressing a vigorous determination to 
rid the wtn-ld of one more traitor. The correspondent 
was out of the sheets and under the bed in a twinkling. 
It was a long time before Carson was awaktned to a 
realizing sense of what he was doing. Aft ei" that, no 
one was especially desirous of sleeping' with him. 
? The last letter he ever wrote was to a lady in Chicago, 
and is as follows : 

Savannah, March 20th, 1862. 

My Dear Friend : Your note of Marcli 17th was hand- 
ed to me last niglit, in General Grant's headquarters. 
I have been absent for eight davs. 1 went wirli des- 



66 Carson, the Scout. 



patches from this place to find General Bucll. I was 
ignorant of his whereabouts, but made up my mind to 
keep going- until I found his division. I kept on until 
we came to Columbia, Tenn., just 150 miles from this 
place. In traversing this distance I was obliged to pass 
through three secession camps. As everytliing depend- 
ed upon my getting through safely, I came to the con- 
clusion that I would make the trip, or get down to New 
Orleans in trying. After four days' ride I got to Xash- 
ville, some two hundred miles from this point. I felt 
as if a feather-bed would not hurt me in the lea^t, but 
to my surprise I was ordered to return to General Grant 
with. my despatches. I mounted a pretty nearly worn- 
out horse, and again set out to brave whatever dangers 
might lie in my path. For a long distance we passed 
o'ff f9r secession soldiers, and got along finely till we 
reached Columbia. In coming to this place, the South- 
ern soldiers had been through the town, and the bridge 
had been destroyed across Duck river, which obliged 
us to leave our horses in a livery stable. In the mean- 
time, the secesh soldiers came into town, and made in- 
quiries as to where we left our horses. I came to the 
conclusion that they would catch me and get my des- 
patches, which would give them just the information 
'they needed. They placed men all around the town for 
the purpose of catching me. I had only two men with ' 
rae, and one of them did not amount to much. I told 
them I was going to run through, or burst up in busi- 
ness. We moved on very slowly till we came close on 
to them. I put spurs to my horse, the other two doing 
the same, dashed through the stream, and got through 



Drumming c Coicn.rd out of Camp. 67 



safe. Tiiey chased ns for a long distance, but we soon 
left tlieni far behind. ...... 

We are expectinp; a battle soon. Perhaps, after the 
fight, if I do not get killed, I vrill make a visit to Chi- 
cago. Hoping to hear from you soon, I remain 3^our 
true friend, ' . I. W. CARSON, 

Majof-General Grant's Scouts. 

Poor Carson's presentirnent was realized. His muti- 
lated body was sent to Chicago, where it was interred, 
as w^as befitting, wath military honors. His valuable 
services, rendered at all times in the most imminent 
danger, will secure for him a lasting and grateful recol- 
lection as one of the j^outhinl martyrs of the w^ar. 



Drumming a Goward out of Camp, 

The culprit, after having his head shaved, has affixed 
to his back in large characters the degrading epithet 
*' coward ;" the regiment is drawn up, and he passes 
between the lines, two of his former comrades closely 
pressing upon him with fixed bayonets, whilst he is pre- 
ceded by two of the regiment with arms reversed, au 
indication that the culprit is dead to the corps. He is, 
in this humiliating position, marched between the ranks. 
The drummers follow alter him, beating the rogue's 
march. Any one who considers for a moment, though 
he has never witnessed the scene, cannot fail to appre- 
ciate the degraded position of the culprit. Certainly 
such an example must have a permanent and salutary 
effect upon the minds of men valuing honor and man- 
hood above life. 



68 

Eebels Cauglit in their own Trap, 

A private letter from a soldier in General Jameson's 
briga,d;e says : " Our division, or rather brigade, took 
eighteen prisoners jesterda}-, dowji at Pohic Church. 
They were taken by Colonel Hayes, of the 63d Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, an active and efficient officer. The 
63d were out on picket duty, and the attention of the 
sergeant of the guard being drawn to. the tinkling cf a 
cow-bell in the bushes, with visions of new milk run- 
niiijg through his head, he examined carefully, and, to 
his intense^ ci-stonishment, he found himself euchered of 
his milk, and no cows there, but he made the discovery 
that as he advanced said cow-bell retreated. The ser- 
geant smelt a moderPvte sized mice, and made a double- 
quick retrograde movement without investigating fur- 
ther. He immediately reported the fact to Col. Hays. 
The colonel secreted a squad of men in the woods, and 
the sergeant made liimseif conspicuous. Soon the gentle 
tinkle of a cow-bell was again heard. The sergeant 
kept threshing in the bushes, and the bell gently tinkled, 
approaching all the while. Soon the squad in ambush 
had the satisfaction to observe the cautious approach, 
not of a cow, bitt of a veritable Secesher, with a cow- 
bell around his neck, and a 6-shooter stuck in his belt. 
He came slowly on until within easy range of our men. 
The sergeant then hailed him and asked wiiere he had 
rather go ; " to — — or to "Washington." '• To Wash- 
ington, I reckon," drawled tlie Secesher. '' I ain't 
clothed for warm weather," and he came up, without 
looking to the right or the left, and delivered himself 
lap. He would liave been looked ui^on as quite a hero 



I 



A Beinijohn Drilled and Contents Spiked, 



69 



by our men, if the revengeful Secesher had not given 
information where the I) dance of his comrades were. 
That night, company A, Pennsylvania 63d, went about 
six miles outside our pickets, and took seventeen pris- 
oners and six horses. One of the Seceshers requested 
the hostler to take good care of his horse, for he had 
had nothing to eat for two days." 



A Demijolm Drilled jind_its Contents Spiked. 

A correspondent says : - Some one had been permit- . 
ted to set up a tent inside of our lines, and sell eata- , 
bles to the soldiers. This individual dared to sell rum, ■ 
which made a few drunk and noisy. This drunkard- 
maker was arrested by the Colonel's order? and taken 
to the guard-house. His liquor was also seized. He 
was drummed out to the tune of ' Hogue's March,' pre- 
senting a laughable appearance, with a bottle slung 
over each shoulder, a toddy-stick in his rear, soldiers 
ahead of him and soldiers behind him with bayonets 
charged. After this the sound of shattered glass told 
us that the demijolm was drilled, and its contents 

spilled." 

In the enemy's lines the reverse seems to be the 
order of the day, if we may judge from the following : 
" On the first night after my arrival, in passing from 
on® quarter to another, I was stopped by a sentinel, 

whom I recognized as private P , (though he di^. 

not recognize me). I was asked 'Who goes there T 
and replied, ' A friend with a bottle ;' the reply was, 
' Advance bottle and dra-.v stopper,' which I did, and 
was suilered to pass on my way rejoicing." 



70 

All Incident of the Williamsburg Battle. 

Some years ago, a 3'oung" Georg-ian, whom we will 
for the present call Arthur, came to New York to take 
a clerkship in one of the leading publishing- houses of 
this city. ''Of good connection, and possessing a fair 
share of worldly goods, he passed his time pleasantly 
in the gay metroptjiis of the Western world. The fear- 
ful stoi-m which had lor years been gathering m the 
South, was now casting its deepening shadows on 
every part of the country ; and the roar of Sumter's 
cannon ushered it in with all its fur}^ We all remem- 
ber how New York responded to the duty which this 
event imposed on her, and how her streets resounded 
with the tramp of gathering hosts, and the music of 
fife and drum. 

Arthur, forgetful of his Georgian home, of parents, 
brothers, and .sisters, caught the spirit of the time, and 
enrolled his name under the " Stars and Stripes," in 
one of the volunteer regiments of this city. An event- 
ful year passed away, and the arni}^ of the Potomac 
was before Yorktown. The regiment to which Arthur 
belonged, took an active part in the daily conflicts 
before that position. After its evacuation, his regiment 
was among the advance at Williamsburg, driving back 
the rebels to their stronghold. ' 

The battle of AYilliamsburg was fought, and we find 
Arthur among the wounded prisoners who fell into the 
enemy's, hands. He v/as taken to the common hospital 
afid tht-re left on the bare floor, to get along as best he 
eould. 

Arthur having obtained some water, managed to 



Clearing the Battle-field after an Engagement. 71 



wash and dress his own wounds, as well as circum- 
stances would permit. His next object was to escape 
'from the sickening horrors around him ; and for this 
purpose he commenced making his way oyer and 
among the dead and d3dng, which were lying singly 
and in heaps around him. Among the harrowing sights 
which met his e^'e, was one which bound him awe- 
stricken to the spot. An aged man was^ kneeling on 
the rough floor, supporting the lifeless form of a young 
rebel officer in his arms, murmuring words of prayer, 
and kissing fhe pale brow now cold in death. Trem- 
bling with conflicting emotions, the young Union soldier 
knelt beside the grief-stricken man, murmuringi "Fa- 
ther ! Brother !" 

Arthur has since returned to New York, The story 
we have told is a true one, as more than one furloughed 
soldier or denizen of our hospitals can testify. 



Clearing the Battle-field after an Engagement. 

Few can form an adequate idea of the horrifying and 
repulsive aspect of a hotley contested battle-field the 
day after the fight. The ground is literally strewed 
with slain animals, the decay of which, would be apt, in 
popular language, " to breed a pestilence" among the 
.troops in th.eir neighborhood. To prevent this, burn- 
ing the* dead animals is an easier as well as safer prac- 
tice than burying them. 

" Clearing the battle-field," however, means more 
than the mere disposing of the poor dead brutes that 
man has pressed into service. It means the gathering 
of the wounded, the burying of ihe slain, and the remo 



72 A Yankee Trick In Missouri, 

val from the face of the fair earth and the eye of 
heaven, of the hideous traces of man's rag-e and wick- 
edness. This sad task can on!}- be described by those 
who have participated in it, and over its horrors the 
impulses of humanity bid us draw a veil. 



A Yankee Trick in Missouri. 



The Yankee is not only up to tricks in trade, but 
knows how to play them off in war too, when he wants 
to trap a secessionist. Among the most cunning as 
well as successful, is one told of Major Hovey, practised 
near Clinton, Missouri. It was at the time when our 
Federal trains were so frequently attacked and cap- 
tured by roving marauders lying in ambush on their 
route. '^ -^"^ 

Anticipating such a contingency to him, the Major 
took one hundred men, put them in wagons so as to 
hide them from view, and then putting a few stragglers 
to walk, as if guarding the train, he started out. Se- 
cession, shot gun in hajid, hiding in the brush, saw the 
cortege, and supposed it a federal wagon train poorly 
guarded, and hence an easy as well as legitimate prize. 
Keasoning thus, secession walked from the bush, pre- 
sented his shot gun, and demanded a surrender — which 
demand was instantly met by fifty men rising irom the 
wagons, presenting a row of glittering muskets, and 
requesting a similar favor of astonished and now morti- 
fied secessionists. They generally complied, and worked 
off its ill-humor by cursing such " mean Yankee tricks," 
unknown to all honorable warfare, and unworthy of 
chivalrous hearts. 



73 

" These are my Sons." 



There came daily, to one of the government hospitals 

Vin St. Lonis, a lady, whose tender care of the sick and 

i\ wounded soldiers attracted observation. She was known 

as the wife of a citizen and as an educated woman, who 

• moved in refined society. Before the war commenced,^ 

she was among the most cheerful and companionable in 

I a large circle of friends. All the elements of life were 

in harmony. But, very soon after the mad assault of 

corrupt men upon their government, Mrs. G 's whole 

demeanor changed. Friends wondered, and asked for 
the cause ; but she was silent. She went no more into 
society, but held herself away from public observation, 
shutting herself up for most of the time in her owp 

house. 

Conjecture was of course busy, and many theories, to^ 
cover the case were advanced and admitted — some near 
the trutli, perhaps, but nearly all remote therefrom. 
.The change in her manner and state of mind was com- 
plete . the warm, bright sunshine had passed, and- she 
was under the shadow of heavy clouds. All this was 

remarkable, in view of the fact that Mrs. G was 

known as a woman of cheerful, reactive disposition ; of 
clear, common-sense thought, and of large self-controll- 
ing power. Whatever trouble might come, her friends 
had faith in her ability to meet it with the calmness and 
dignity of a superior mind. Was it possible that a 
public calamity Imd been felt in her invUvidual life sO' 
keenly ? 

Whatever the cause, Mrs. G did not rise above it.. 

Bhe was present no more in the circles to which she 
3 



74 ^^ These are my Sons. ^^ 



had always lent a charm: Occasionally an old acquaint- 
ance would see her on the street, but with a manner so 
changed and subdued that she was scarce]}' recognised- 
The Sabbath always found' her in church, sitting- with 
"bowed head, an ab's^tbed and fervent worshipper; and, 
as she moved down the aisle after the service had closed, 
and out from the pOrtico ■amid--ilie' crowd, instinctive 
delicacy in the mincls df a large n'umbei^ of old friends 
let her pass without intrtision. '• ' 
' , Thus it was with Mrs. G— -, when disease, in league 
with bullet, cannon ball, and Httursting shell, beg-an to 
crowd the hospitals* of St. Louis with sick and w'ounded 
men, thus bringing into the very heart of the city, peace--! 
ful and prosperous a few months before, the ghastly 
fruits of treason. Among the earliest to enroll herself 

in the common sisterhood of charity, was Mrs, G . 

Almost on the very day that the first wounded man 
arrived, she presented herself at one of the hospitals, 
and claimed a woman's privileg'e of ministering to pain. 
Her care. was less for the sick than for the wounded, 
^aiad" less for strongmen than for 3'outh — tender boys, 
wlio had felt the kindling fires of patriotism, and gone 
forth in arms to meet the foes of freedom and law. 
Towards these she displaj'cd all the interest and com- 
passionate care of a mother, ministering to the mind 
and heart, as well as to the suffering body. It was re- 
markable iiow completely her life came down into this 
work, and how soon duty was absorbed by love. • 

Among" those who were brought in from one of the 
many battle-fields of Missouri, were three young men, 
the oldest not over twenty-two. One of them had lost 
an arm ; one had his right knee shattered by a shell J 



i' These are my Sons^ *75> 



and the other had received three bullets in hi:^ body. 
They were laid on three beds, standing side by side ; 
and the lirst woman's face that looked down in pity 
upon their pale, suflering; faces was that of Mrs. G— ->- ^ 
The first sound, so full of home and love— so soft and.- 
sweet to their cars, and like the voice of a mother- 
was the voice of Mrs. G . Do we wonder that, as 

their eyes looked up to hers, they grew blinded by tears ? 
i Mrs.G— did not leave tliem when the surgeon; came. 
^ The sight of his insti^iments pressed the blood back 
upon her heart, and she grew faint ^, but the eyes of a 
fair-haired stripling, whose hurt gaze turned from the 
, knife and probe, and reached upwards towards her, like 
\ clinging hands, held her to the post of duty, and com- 
passion gave new life to her heart, so that all its pulses. 
! were strong again. The surgeon's best assistant, 
i through all the painful work that had in mercvto be 
I done upon the bodies of these young men, was Mrs. 
I G— ; and their best strength came from her tender 
; and maternal voice. She was an angel to them; and 
I thankful love filled their hearts, and skone from their 
faces, in the calm, and ease, and rest that followed the 
torture, and not only filled their hearts, and slione from 
their faces, but awakened by its ardor the purest and 
truest of all loves in her heart— a mother's love. 

She did not leave them through the feverish night 
that followed, and only returned to her home in the 
o-ray morning that broke upon her self-imposed vigils. 
Nature demanded-rest. Mrs. G— was more exhausted 
than she had ever been before. It was not so much the 
watch that left her with weak and jarred nerves ; feel- 
ings had been awakened into too strong a lite, and 



i 



76 ^^ These are my Sons." 

burned with too consuming an intensity'. It vras late 
in the afternoon when Mrs. G — returned to the hospitah 
Her first visit was to the three 3^oung men with whom 
she had passed the night. Tliey received lier with 
grateful eyes and welcoming smiles. Something about 
them touched her more deeply than she had been touch- 
ed by anything which she had seen during her walks of 
mercy amid sick and wounded and dying men. Sitting , 
down, she talked first with one, and then with another, 
about themselves and their home. 

One had a mother in far away New England, and his 
lashes lay wet on his cheek as he spoke of her. 

" She loves her country, and has given three sons for 
its defence," he said ; and in pride of such a mother, 
his heart beat quicker, and sent the flusliing blood to 
his pale face. *' I will not tell her how badly I am 
hurt," he continued ; *' she shall only know of that 
when I am well again. But she shall know of your 
kindness, dear lady ! My first letter will tell her 
that!" 

" Happy mother, to have brave and loyal sons in a 

time like this !" answered Mrs. G , her voice losing 

its firm tones, and sinking to a sad expression. 

*' Have 3^ou no son to give to your country ?" asked 
the fair-haired stripling, whose head had rested, a few 
moments before, against her bosom, while the knife and 
probe were making him sick with agon3\ 

" I will call j'-ou my son," was replied, after a brief 

silence. Mrs. G 's voice was in a lower ke3% but 

calm and steady. She seemed to have encountered a 
strong wave of feeling, that made all the timbers in her 
vessel of life shudder ; but the stroke had proved harm- 



^'^ These are my Sons.'* 



less, and she was herself again. , " And you are my 
sons also," she added, almost proudly, as she looked 
upon the others " Worthy sons ! • I will give you a 
mother's care." 

There entered, at this moment, two men, carrying a 

litter, on Avhich a man was lying. A surgeon and nurse 

^ were in attendance. The large room was full of beds, 

and on one of these the man, who moaned iji v. low, 

plaintive voice, was placed. Mrs. G did not stir 

from where she sat by the young soldier. Scenes like 
these were of almost daily occurrence, and did not dis- 
turb the order for duties of the institution. 

" A wounded rebel," said the nurse, who had come 

in with the litter. She crossed the room to Mrs. G , 

whispered the sentence, and then moved back again. 
She did not know what a thrill of pain her brief sen- 
tence had awakened. 

A wounded rebel ! The very bullet that shattered 
the bone, and rent the sensitive flesh of the loyal youth 
over whose couch she sat, might have been sent on its 
cruel mission by his hands. Yet was he now brought 
in, carefully to be ministered to in suffering, and saved 
perhaps from death. This was the very thought that 

flashed through the mind of Mrs. G , as the thrill of 

pain which the announcement occasioned went tremb- 
ling away into stillness. 

The moans of the wounded man soon died away. He 
had first been taken to the surgeon's apartments, and 
after the abstraction of a ball, the passage of which 
had been more painful than dangerous, he was removed, 
under the charge of nurses, to the room where he now 
rested. 



T8 ^^ These are my Sons." 



Mrs. G — 'r interest in the three young men, who were 
now specially in her charge, found no abatement, but 
rather increased. In brief conversations with each of 
them, she gathered little facts and incidents and senti- 
ments that expressed the quality of their lives, of a cha- 
racter still further to interest her feelings. Each had 
been tenderly cared for in early years, and each was 
loyal as well to all home memories as to the country he 
had gone forth to serve, bearing his life in his hands. 

It was nearl}^ an hour after the wounded rebel had 
been brought in, when a nurse, crossing from a distant 
part where he \^y, came to Mrs. G , who was assist- 
ing the surgeon to dress the shattered limb of one of 
the young men under her care, and stooping down, said 
to her, with suppressed agitation : 

** It is your son, madam !" 

" Who? where ?" The color went otft of Mrs. G — 's 
face. 

*' The man who was last brought in." 

" My son ?" 

" Yes, ma'am, he says be is your son. Won't you 
come over to him ? He w^ants you." 

Mrs. G caught her breath with a gasp, bat, gain- 
ing self-possession, she answered, with a calm eloquence 
of tone that was full of heroism, " These are, my sons !" 

For an instant she looked proudly from face to face 
of the three wounded soldiers, and then bent over the 
task in which she was engaged. 

Her hand showed no tremors, as she wound the long 
bandages about the tender limb, and in every minutia 
obeyed the surgeon's directions. When the painful 
work was done, she wiped from the sufferer's pale fore- 



« These are my Sons.'' '79 



hoad the clammy sweat that covered it, and laid her 
hand softly upon his temples, smoothing back the damp 
hair. No mother's hand had in it a tenderer touch. 

For a minute the surgeon drew her aside, and they 
stood in earnest conversation ; then he moved away, 
and Mrs. G — resumed her place. Not long afterwards, 
the rebel soldier, who had been brought in, was carried 
out again, the men who bore the litter almost touching 
Mrs. G — as they passed. But she did not stir or look 
around. One, two, three hours, and she was still in 
the hospital ; but her loyal, heroic heart had taken up 
a burden that no true mother's heart has strength to 
bear. The surgeon, who comprehended the case, was 
watching her with intense interest. He saw, with eyes 
that could read signs which others might not under- 
stand, the gradual failing of power to sustain herself in 
this self-imposed ordeal, and more than once offered 
gentle remonstrances, which she failed to heed. But 
all things yield, when pressure is in excess of strength. 
Three hours after her rebel son had been removed, by 
her order, with a nurse in attendance, to the home be 
had dishonored, Mrs. G was carried thither -insen- 
sible, having swooned from exhaustion of vital power 
in the unnatural conflict of mind to which she had been 
subjected. 

On the day after, she was absent from the hospital • 
but on the third day she came in again, paler, and to 
some eyes sadder, and again administered with lor- 
ing care to the sons of her adoption. 



80 

" The Spirit of 76." 

A lad — he was but a stripling, though he had seen 
^rd service — lay stretched out on the seat of the car. 
Another lad, of less than twenty summers, with his arm 
in a sling, came and took a seat behind him, gazing 
upon hiin witli mournful interest. Looking up to me 
(for I was accompanying the sick boy to h'is home) he 
asked . 

" Is he a soldier ?" 

" Yes." 

" Of what regiment ?" 

*' The Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry." 

" Are you a soldier ?" 

" Yes.'' 

*' Where do you belong ?'* 

" In the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment of Illinois 
Yolunteers." 

" The One Hundred and Fifth Eegiment ? That 
sounds well. Illinois is doing nobly." 

" I did belong to the Eleventh Illinois Infantry." 

" Then how came you in the One Hundred and 
Fifth ?" 

" I was wounded at the battle of Fort Donelson, so i 
that I was pronounced unfit for service, and discharged. | 
But I recovered from my wound, and when they com- ' 
menced raising this regiment in my neighborhood, I 
again enlisted." 

Hitherto the sick boy had been perfectly still. Now 
he slowly turned over, looked up with glistening eyes, 
stretched forth his hand, with the slow movement of a 
sick man, to the top of the seat, and, without saying a 



Scene at a New York Recruiting Office, 81 



word, eagerly grasped the hand of the new recruit. 
The patriotism that glowed in those wan features and 
prompted those slow, tremulous movements, like elec- 
tricity, ran • through every heart. The twice-enlisted 
youth, as soon as he saw his intention, delighted at the 
appreciation and reflection of his own spirit, grasped 
the outstretched hand, exclaiming : 

" Bully for you !" 

Words cannot describe the effect upon the passen- 
gers, as they saw those hands clasped, in token of 
mutual esteem for love of country ; a mutual pledge 
that each wjis read^^ to give his life, his all, for that 
country. They felt that the spirit of '76 still sur- 
vived. 



Scene at a New York Eecmiting Office. 

While walking up the Bowery, a few days ago, we 
noticed a small-sized crowd in front of the recruiting 
office of the second battalion of Duryee's Zouaves, be- 
tween Hester and Grand streets. Upon coming up to 
the gathering, we discovered the well-known figure of 
Horace Greeley, surrounded by some half-dozen red- 
breeched and turbaned soldiers. 

*' Come, Mr. Greeley !" exclaimed a strapping fellow, 
who stood six feet high, and was proportionably broad 
across the chest and shoulders. " Now's your time to 
enlist ! We give $188 bounty to-day. Won't you go 
to the war with us ?" 

" Gentlemen !" answered the philosopher, " it's im- 
possible. I am too. , old ; besides, 1 am doing a great 
deal more service at home." 



82 Scene at a New York Recruiting Office. 



" Then 3^011 won't go ?'' asked another Zonave. 

"I cannot do it, my friend," repMed Horace. 

" You ain't afraid, are you ? You don't know how 
well you'd look until you saw 3'ourself dressed up in 
Zouave uniform," chimed in another. 

" I have no doubt I should cut a pretty figure in 3^our 
dress — " 

" Especially if 3'ou wore a white coat," interrupted a 
waggish bystander. 

" But that is nothing, my friends. Dress neither 
makes men nor soldiers. Principle, good character, 
good habits, and resolution is ever3^thing." 

" yes ! that's all right ; but that ain't enlisting," 
. persisted the first speaker. " Uncle Sam wants soldiers, 
and talking or writing isn't the thing. There's lots of 
men older than you in the ranks, and any quantity of 
editors, reporters and printers. If a few men like you 
enlisted, our regiments would soon till up/' 

" That is true ; but it is impossible for me to join 
you," continued Horace. 

*' You'd soon get a chance to wear the straps. May- 
be you might sport a spread eagle," put in another Zou 
Zou, persuasively. 

" No, no ; gentlemen, I must leave you ; but," turn- 
ing around in a quiet manner, and eyeing the crowd, 
which b\^ this time was considerable, " perhaps some 
of these citizens I see gathered about you will volun- 
teer. If any one will do so, I will give an extra bounty. 
Does any one wish to join?" 

At this unexpected offer the crowd began to give 
way and scatter about, while se^ral proposed three 
cheers for the white-coated philosopher. We did not 



Death Scene of Capt. John Griswold. 83 



hear whether Greeley secured any recruits by his extra 
bounty ; but he soon after moved off, followed by the 
Zou-Zous, who laughed quite heartily at the attempt 
made to entrap Horace into the Union army. 



Death Scene of Captain John Griswold. 

It is the highest testimony to his merit as a man and 
his value as an officer, to tell you that Gen. Burnside 
(in whose corps the Captain's regiment served) visited 
the Captain before his death. A barn floor littered with 
straw, formed his death-bed. He was surrounded by 
the wounded of the rank and file. Some of them were 
his own men. They were weeping at the prospect of 
his speedy dissolution. He had received a ball in his 
bowels, which must prove mortal. But for his conduct 
none could anticipate that the mournful event was near. 
His loving soldiers and others wept. His mind was 
clear to the last, and sustained, if not joyous. " Weep 
not, my friends, for me. I die as I have always wished 
to die," and he ceased to breathe, without a sign of 
sadness. He was a young man, in appearance not 
more than thirty, and a resident, I was told, of Lynn, 
Conn. 



At Memphis and Nashville, the sending of rebel sym- 
pathizers South, is kept up. If citizens give evidence 
of disloyalty, Gen. Sherman and Gov. Johnson say, 
" Go to Dixie !" an improvement upon an old and 
somewhat kindred expression. 



84 

The Massachusetts 6th in Baltimore. 



Sumter has fallen. A call has gone forth for the loyal 
people to rally to the rescue of the National Capitol, 
and the defence of the Government and country. Un- 
T\'arlike in habits and tastes, they nevertheless have 
come forth from the ofiQce, the counting room, the studio 
and pulpit, in obedience to their country's summons. 

The first in the field were the " Massachussetts 6th." 
Hurrying from the plow and workshop, they gathered 
at Lowell, bade farewell to kindred and friends, form- 
ed in a solid column, listened with quivering- lips to the 
praj^ers of their pastor and the parting addresses of 
their fellovv^-townsmen, their bands struck up a national 
air, their colors were unfurled before them, and the line 
of march was taken up for Washington. 

In seventy-two hours from that time, they were in 
the heart of Baltimore, and in the midst of an infuriated 
mob numbering thousands.- The particulars of this 
outrage, and its electric effect on the country at large, 
are too well known to be repeated here. 

It was during the murderous affray of the 19th of 
April that the following incident took place, an incident 
fraught with more than usual interest, showing, as it 
did, to the world, an example of heroism aad daring 
that deserves the praise of a just and enlightened 
people. 

The regimental band of the Massachusetts 6th, at the 
time of the attack, consisted of twenty-lour pieces, and 
occupied a separate car. By some mishap this car was 
" switched off," so that instead of being the first it was 
left in the rear of the regiment. Thus isolated, uu- 



The Massachusetts 6th in Baltimore. 85 

armed and incapable of making any defence, the mem- 
bers of the band became the objects of attack of the 
fiendish mob, which immediately commenced breaking" 
up the car with bars of iron, at the same time pouring- 
in a shower of stones througli the windows, while others 
were calling for powder to blow np the car. Finding 
it Avoiild be certain destruction to remain longer thus 
cooped up, the unarmed musicians leaped out to meet 
their merciless foe hand to hand. Twenty-four men in 
a strange city, surrounded by a yelling mob bent on. 
their destruction, v/hile beyond these demons were 
thousands of citizens silent witnesses of this unequal 
contest, not daring even to speak a word in behalf of 
that band of fellow-beings, who were seeking in vain 
for some avenue of escape. Goaded by pain, and faint 
with loss of blood, they were making a final desperate 
effort to reach some place of shelter, when a rough- 
looking man sprang in front of their leader, exclaim- 
ing, " This way, boys I tMs way !" His was the first 
friendly voice they had heard since entering Baltimore, 
and they followed without a moment's hesitation. The 
strange, rough man led them up a narrow alley to an 
open door through which they rushed, for their pursu- 
ers were close at their heels. Inside they were met by 
a powerful-looking woman, who grasped each by the 
hand, with an assurance that they were safe beneath 
her roof. 

The last of the band was knocked senseless by a 
stone as he entered the door, but the amazon who had 
welcomed them took hiai up in her arms, and directing 
his companions to follow, led the wa}^ to a room in the 
upper part of the building, where she immediately com- 



86 2Vie Massachusetts 6th in Baltimore. 

menced to wash and bind up their wounds. After hav- 
ing done this, she procured food for them and a change 
of clothes, so that they were enabled to go out in search 
of their comrades, without danger of detection from the 
ruffianl}^ crowd which had given them so rough a recep- 
tion. They then learned the particulars of the attack 
on a portion of their regiment, and of the escape of the 
greater portion. They saw also the dead and wound- 
ed that had been left behind in the hostile city. One 
of their own number was missing and could- not be 
found, and it was uncertain whether he had been killed 
or had escaped. On going back to the house where 
they had been so kindly cared for, they found that their 
uniforms, together with their battered instruments, had 
been carefully packed up and sent to the depot of the 
Philadelphia Kailroad, where they were advised to go^ 
as they would there be sure to meet friends. The^^did 
so, and started in the next train for Philadelphia, and 
arrived jusiin time to meet the " Massachusetts Sth," 
under the command of General Butler, who told them 
to hurry on to the " Old Bay State," and show their 
battered faces and broken limbs, in the certainty that 
they would be sent back to play " Ilail, Columbia !" in 
the very streets of Baltimore, where they had been so 
inhumanly treated. 

The noble-hearted woman, who -defied a desperate 
mob in rescuing and protecting those men, is a well- 
known character in the city of Baltimore. According 
to the verdict of Christian societj^ she is an outcast, 
lost to all that is good and elevating ; but she is a true 
heroine nevei;theless, and by her noble conduct entitled 
to the nation's grateful thanks. When" Governor llicks 



The Drummer-Roy of Marbleheaa. 87 



had succumbed to the mob of miscreants, and Winter 
Davis himself had fled in dismay, and men of influence, 
of hig-h official standing-, had hidden themselves in their 
terror — when all the municipal powers of the city were 
unable to protect a few unarmed strangers who were 
struggling for life — then this poor woman, this despised 
outcast, took them under her protection, dressed their 
wounds, fed and clothed them, and sent them in safety 
to their friends. 

No doubt, thousands of lo^^al citizens would like to 
knov/ the name of one, who should be remembered for 
her humanity to their countrymen. It is Anna Marley. 



The Drummer-Boy of Marblehead. 

A lad of fifteen is the hero of this story, showing that 
in the hearts of even the children of the Korth, the in- 
domitable spirit of liberty throbs with an enthusiasm 
and courage, that quails not on the tented field, and is 
eager to do and to die for the country's flag. 

Who can for a moinent doubt the purity and success 
of the national cause, when we see ihe very hoys of the 
Union, the darlings of the hearth-stone, tera-ing them- 
selves from their mother's arms and from their weep- 
ing sisters, and foremost in the fight, beating their 
drums, or seizing, as in the case of Albert Manson, a 
rifle from a wounded soldier and firing on i\ie foe, till 
falling faint and dying from a rebel ball ? 

It Avas the murder of the jMassachusetts troops in the 
streets of Baltimore tliat roused the rage of his young 
heart to aveni:!,-e their blood. Father and son at once 



S3 The Drummer-Boy of MarUehead. 



enlisted. The son could play the " Star Spangled Ban- 
ner" and " Yankee Doodle," and on trial, Col. Kurtz, 
struck with his bold and inspired mannc:\ appointed 
him in one of the companies of tiic x\Iassachus<.lts 23d, 
being the youngest drummer in the regiment. 

They sailed in the Burnside expedition ; and in the 
battle of Roanoke Island, after a weary march tlirougli 
slime and water, they came in sight of the enemy's bat- 
tery- " Who will go and take it ?" asked the General 
commanding. " The Massachusetts 23d," was the quick 
reply. *' Forward, then, double-quick !" and in the 
teeth of a galling fire they rushed to their death as it 
had been to their bridal. The father fell wounded by 
his side, but the son heeded him not ; his whole soul 
had lost itself in the work before him. '^ Look at that 
child," said one officer to another ; " No wonder we 
conquer, when boj'S fight so." " Did'nt 1 say they 
should run to.the old tunes ?" and seizing a disabled 
revolver for a drum-stick, he struck up, in a wondrously 
defiant wxiy, our impudent old strain of Yankee Doodle. 
A flying rebel heard it, and looking back, took sure aim 
at Albert. A man near the boy saw him, and tried to 
pull Albert down, but he stood his ground, and the ball 
did not fail to do its deadly work. i 

And you will love his knightl}"' colonel none the less" 
when 1 tell you that his strong arms held tlie dying 
bo}'. His pale lips moved at last, and they bent 
eagerly to hear his words. Some inquiry for his miss- 
ing father — some last precious words for his lonely 
mother ? No ; only this, boylikc, " Which beat, quick, 
tell me?" Tears ran like rain down the blackened 
faces, and one, in a voice husky wi^i sobs, said, '' Wq, 



A Camp of Females at Island No. 10. 89 



Albert, the field is ours." The ears death had already 
deadened caug-ht no sound, and his slight hand flutter- 
ed inipatiently as again be gasped, " What, tell quick V 
" We beat 'em intirely, me boy," said a big Irish ser- 
geant, who was crying like a baby. He heard then, 
and his voice was as strong as ever as he answered, 
" Wily don't you go after 'em ? Don't mind me, I'll 
catch up — I'm a little cold, but running will warm me.'* 
He never spoke again : the coldness of death stiffened 
his limbs, and so he passed from the victor}^ of earth 
to the God who gave us the victor}-. 

If the mother of the Gracchi could point to her sons 
and say, " These are my jewels," with wliat a loftier, 
holier pride can the Massachusetts mother of this gal- 
lant boy recall the memory of her heart's idol ! Build 
him a monument of the old Bay State's granite, and let 
his name live for ever high in the temple of Fame I 



A Oamp of Females at Island No. 10. 

We are carried back, by the scenes here described, 
to the times of the Spanish buccaneers, aiid learn with 
a blush the abandonment of moral restraint among 
the soldiers of the South. 

" On a beautiful hill," writes an ofiScer of Commodore 
Foote's victorious flotilla, "surrounded by beautiful 
groves, budding wild flowers, and the accompanyitig 
charms of a rural retreat, we found a bevy of nymphs 
encamped, and enjoying soldierly life in. real earnest. 
There were twelve or fifteen of them, of different ages, 
but all young, and more or less fair to look upon. They 



90 A Camp of Females at Island No. 10. 



sat round the camp fire, and cooked their breakfast, a 
little disheveled and rumpled, as might, perhaps, be 
expected, in remembrance of the scenes of excitement 
they had passed through, but yet as much composed, 
and as much at home, as though they had campaigned 
it all their lives. There was a stray lock of hair hang- 
ing here and there, an unlaced bodice granting chary 
glimpses of vast luxuriance of bust, a stocking down 
at the heel, or a garter with visible downward tenden- 
cies — all of which was attributed to our early visit. 
There were all the marks of femininity about the place. 
The embowering trees were hung with hoop skirts and 
flaunting articles, which looked in the distance like ab- 
breviated pantaloons. A glance at the interior of their 
tents showed magnificent disorder. Dimity and calico, 
silk, feathers, and all the appurtenances of a female 
boudoir, were visible. It was a 7'ai'a avis in terra — a 
new bird in the woods. 

*' These feminine voj'ageurs were real campaigners. 
The chivalry of the South, ever solicitous for the sex, 
could not resist the inclination for its society, and hence 
the camp of nymphs by the river side, in the embower- 
ing shade, et cetera. I will not say much for their fair 
fame, or for the good fame of the confederate officers, 
Avliose baggage was mingled in admirable confusion 
with the rumpled dimity and calico, whose boots and 
spurs hung among the hoop skirts and unmentionables, 
and whose old hats ornamented the tent-poles or decked 
ihe heads of the fair adventuresses. It was a new fea- 
ture in war." 



91 

l^ho was She ? 



On April 28th, while the National fleet was anchored 
off New Orleans, and before the city liad been definite- 
ly surrendered by the authorities, a small boat, pulled 
by one pair of oars was observed leaving- the levee. A 
closely veiled lady was noticed in the stern. When she 
reached one of the vessels, she drew" back her veil and 
beckoned to the officer of the watch. The Captain, who 
had remarked that she was young" and apparently very 
lovely, dreaded the influence of the fair syren upon his 
subordinate, as with a gesture he forbade his respond- 
ing" to the mute appeal, and repaired himself to the 
gangway. Probably he imagined that forty odd years 
were more secure than twenty from treasonable temp- 
tation. 

*' Pra}'-, sir," she asked, in the most musical voice 
imaginable, " might I inquire if a person named Mc 
Clellan is on board." 

At the same time she made him a brief but impera- 
tive sign, which he construed to signify that he was ex- 
pected to reply in the affirmative. 

" Certainly there is, madam !" 

The white lie may be pardoned on the score of the 
brilliancy of the flashing eyes which partially bewil- 
dered the Captain, 

" Might I trouble you to give him this letter ?" 

As the Captain descended to take it from one of the 
smallest and most delicately gloved hands he had ever 
seen, he partially recovered the presence of mind which 
had not deserted him once during- the fierce strunrsrle of 
the preceding days. He was unwilling that the first 



92 Who was she ? 

pair of bright eyes he had seen for weeks sliould vanish 
BO quickl}'-. • 

" Would yon not wish to step on board, madam, and 
speak with him ?" 

A wicked smile flitted over the charming face before 
him, and but for his age, and the wife he had left in 
the North, he would infallibly have lost his heart. As 
it was, he felt it almost going, and laid his heavy hand 
upon it to check its disposition for levanting from its 
legitimate owner. 

"No ; I thank you," she said. " Such an unexpected 
pleasure might prove somewhat embarrassing." 

Saying this, she again sat down, drew her veil over 
her face, and making a sign to the colored boatman, 
was pulled once more towards the levee. 

The Captain gazed after her, sighed, and then looked 
at the letter. 

" I suppose I must do duty for McClellan on this oc- 
casion," he said. '• But who the deuce can she be." He 
then opened it. 

The letter contained a great deal of valuable infor- 
mation respecting the temper of the population of the 
city. It also stated that Forts Pike and Livingston had 
been evacuated, and their garrisons despatched to join 
Beauregard rU Corinth, and distinctly affirmed that no 
Union sentiment could find expression in New Orleans 
until those who felt it could be guaranteed the pro- 
tection of United States troops against the temper of 
the populace. Subsequent events have proved that the 
fair correspondent was right; and the young subaltern, 
who was only able to catch an occasional glimpse of 
those delightful e^^es as she was speaking to his com- 



A Female Spy, 93 

manding officer, says that, "Never before was the 
flashing glance of beauty one half so agreeable.'* 



A Female Spy. 

No doubt the sunny South has received many, and 
some very important, favors from the fair sex. At 
Washington, for a while, they played an almost open 
game, being several instances educated, handsome 
and fashionable, having access to cabinet circles, and 
intimate with heads of bureaus, officers of war. State, 
etc. A pretty and talented woman is a dangerous ar- 
ticle to the peace of man individually, and sometimes 
to the peace of the country. Even patriotism is not 
safe against the charms, and wiles, and intrigues of 
the gay deceivers. 

Therefore it was that our generally gallant Secretary 
of State felt compelled to arrest and imprison, first in 
their own houses, and afterwards in less comfortable 
quarters, a few of the most dangerous of the sex. At 
last a well-known lady was detected in corresponding 
and receiving messages through the medium of pound- 
cake, which circumstance determined him to ship them 
all to Norfolk by a flag of truce, as the only wa^^ to get 
rid of such a nuisance. 

The heroine of our chapter is a Mrs. Baxley, who was 
arrested and examined on the steamer Georgiana, be- 
tween Fortress Monroe and Baltimore. 

From some remarks she made, a Mr. Brigham, who 
was a detective, jocosely asked her if she was a seces- 
sionist, to which she answered " yes." After the gang 



94 A Female Spy. 



plank was run out, the boat having Janded at Balti- 
more, Mrs. Baxley was heard to say that she " thanked 
God she had arrived home safe ;" and when about step- 
ping ashore, Mr. Brigham tapped her on the shoulder 
and requested her attendance in the ladies' cabin. As 
soon as the room was reached her bonnet was taken off, 
between the linings of which was found upwards of 
fifty letters sewed in, when she exclaimed that having 
been found out, she thought it best to deliver up the 
" contrabands" and be allowed to proceed on her way. 
But Mr. Brigham insisted upon it that she had others, 
and lo ! in her shoes and stockings numerous other let- 
ters were also found. The lady was closely guarded 
until the Provost Marshal of Baltimore was informed 
of the circumstance, when he sent a woman to examine 
Mrs. Baxley with more scrutiny. Almost every pos- 
sible place about her clothing was filled with letters 
from Secessia for rebel sj-mpathizers in Baltimore, but 
in her corsets was found a document which, when taken 
by the woman examining the smuggler, Mrs. Baxlej' 
rushed at her, and getting hold of the paper, tore it in 
two. The document proved to be a commission from 
Jeff Davis to a Dr. Septimus Brown, of Baltimore, also 
passes and direction for him to run the federal blockade 
in order to gain the rebel domains. j 

Mrs. Baxley was taken to a hotel, and several police 
officers placed on guard over her. While locked in her 
room she dropped a note out of the window addressed 
to her lover (the rebel doctor), imploring him for God's 
sake to ll}-, as all was discovered. It seemed to be her 
onl}^ and darling desire to get her lover a commission 
in the rebel army, and, having succeeded, she was only 



3Iiss Taylor in Camp Dick Robinson, 95 



detected in her nefarious transactions when about com- 
pleting her mission. 



Miss Taylpr in Camp Dick Eobinson. 

A young lady who has been with the East Tenues-^ 
seens during their stay in Camp Dick Robinson, is thus 
alluded to by the camp correspondent of the Cincinnati 
Times: " One of the features of the 1st Tennessee 
Kegiment is the person of a brave and accomplished 
young lady of but eighteen summers, and of prepos- 
sessing appearance, named Sarah Taylor, of East Ten- 
nessee, who is the step-daughter of Captain Dowden, 
of the 1st Tennessee Kegiment. Miss Taylor is an ex- 
ile from her home, having joined the fortunes of her 
step-father and her wandering companions, accompany- 
ing them in their perilous and dreary flight from their 
homes and estates. Miss Taylor has formed the deter- 
mination to share with her late companions the dangers 
and fatigues of a military campaign. She has donned 
a neat blue chapeau, beneath which her long hair is 
fantastically arranged ; bearing at her side a liighly- 
finished regulation sword, and silver-mounted pistols in 
her belt, all of which gives her a very neat appearance. 
She is quite the idol of the Tennessee boys. They look 
upon her as a second Joan of Arc, believing that victory 
and glory will perch upon the standards borne in the 
ranks favored by her loved presence. Miss Captain 
Taylor is all courage and skill. Having become an 
adept in the sword exercise, and a sure shot v/ith the 
pistol, she is determined to lead in the van of the march 



96 31iss Taylor in Camp Dick Robinson, 



bearing her exiled and oppressed countrymen back to 
their homes, or, if failing, to offer np her own life's 
blood in the sacrifice." 

A gentleman who was on the ground on Saturday 
night, the 19th instant, when the order was issued to 
the Tennesseeans to march to reinforce Colonel Gar- 
rard, informs us that the wildest excitement pervaded 
the whole camp, and that the young lady above alluded 
to mounted her horse, and, cap in hand, galloped along 
the line like a spirit of flame, cheering on the men. 
She wore a blue blouse, and was armed with pistols, 
sword and rifle. Our informant, wlio has been at the 
camp the whole time since the arrival of the Tennes- 
seeans, says that Miss Taylor is regarded by the troops 
as a guardian aiigol, w^ho is to lead them to victory. 
These persecuted men look upon the daring girl who 
followed their fortunes through sunshine and shadow, 
with the tenderest feeling of veneration, and each 
would freely offer his life in her defence. There was 
but little sleep in the camp on Saturdaj- night, so 
great was the ju}"^ of the men at the prospect of meet- 
ing the foe, and at a very early hour in the morning 
they filed away jubilantly, with their Joan of Arc in 
the van. Just before taking up their line of march 
they all knelt, and, lifting up their right hand, sol- 
emnl}^ swore never to return without seeing their 
homes and loved ones. Whether the East Tennessee- 
ans of Camp Dick Ixobinson shall do daring deeds or 
not, Miss Taylor's fame is perfectly secure. She is a 
girl of history, and poetry will embalm her name in 
undying numbers. * 



The Dying Soldier. 97 



A CHAP in Virginia was taken prisoner the other 
day by the rebels, who demanded that he should take 
an oath to support the Confederate Government. The 
fellow said he had taken many big oaths in his day, but 
he could not support his family, and to swear to sup- 
port the Jeff Davis Government was taller swearing 
than he dared to do these hard times. 



The Dying Soldier. — In one of the hospitals near 
Alexandria lay a youthful soldier gasping for his last 
breath. He could not speak ; but by signs he made his 
comrade, who was a kind-hearted, though unlettered 
son of Erin, understand that he wanted the chaplain. 

Kev. Mr. B was soon by his bedside. " What is it, 

my poor boy ?" lie said, kindly. The youth feebly point- 
ed to his mother's signature in a letter lying beside his 
pillow, then more feebly to the dark locks which shaded 
his pale brow. The ^chaplain was quick to catch the 
boy's meaning. *' Send a lock of hair to your mother, 
James ?" The eager nod answered him. " Any mes- 
sage, dear boy ? Can you whisper a word of farewell ?'* 
No, he could not, his breath was nearly spent. But a 
single movement of his finger, first pointing to his 
heart, and then upward, was full of significancy to the 
intent eye of the soldier's friend. " Yes, James, I un- 
derstand — 3'our soul is resting on Jesus, you are going 
to your heavenly home ; I shall write to your mother, 
and she will bless God amid her tears." A loving, 
grateful smile beamed upon the chaplain, and James 
was no more. 



98* A Tough Customer. 

They grow some tough customers up in the " Northt 
Woods." A chap named Jim Hill, of White Lake, enn 
listed in a cavalry compan}^ a 3'ear ago, and deserted.l 
He then enlisted 'in Col. Whenlock's regiment, fromi 
which he also deserted. He came home, enlisted under 
the recent order, received his bounty, and skedaddled 
for John Brown's Tract. He was subsequently nabbed; 
lodged in the Lewis County Jail, started for the seat 0: 
war, got as far as Booneville, where liis handcuffs wer( 
taken off and where he " mysteriously disappeared ' 
during the night. He was again caught, handcuffeC' 
and put into a room, and his clothes taken away. n( 
escaped from an " upper story " by making a ladder 
the bed-clothes, wrapped himself up in a quilt and re 
visited the classic shores of White Lake, where he wa 
at last accounts ! That man has genius. 



A YOUNG MAN who had been employed as a waiter i 
a saloon, in Rochester, and who had enlisted in tli 
140th llegiment, deserted. He was caught by a guar 
sent in search of him, and, on his way back to cam^ 
asked permission to call' at a shoe store to do an erranc 
The request being granted, the chap ran through tlii 
back door of the store and entered the saloon- where h 
had been employed. Thither he was pursued by tl, 
guard, who after a thorough search of the premise 
left, satisfied that he had escaped. All tjiis time he wt 
concealed under the crinoline of the cook, who subs, 
quently confessed to tlie part she had played. The d< 
serter, when the search had been given up, emerge 
from his hiding-place, and got away. 



Sure Enough. 99 



Sure Enough. — A teamster in our army was out- 
rageously rough, and yelled at his mules very foolishly, 
annoying all around him. The General, who happened 
not to be in uniform, once heard him, and ordered him 
to stop such outcries. "And who are you?" said the 
driver. " I am the commander of this division," replied 
the General. " Well, then, command your division ; / 
am commandtr of these mules, and I'll holler and swear 
as much as I please," roared the team driver. 



S. H. Hill, a young man about 18 years of age, who 
has just returned from New Orleans, where he has been 
a waiter for an ofiScer in a Vermont regiment, enlisted 
in Northampton, Mass., a few days ago, but was re- 
jected b}' the surgeon in consequence of having a stiff 
finger. He was told by the surgeon that if he would 
have the finger taken off. he would pass him. The fin- 
ger waft accordingly removed, and the plucky young 
man has re-enlisted. 

ft» ^- o » « < ■ 



When General Stuart seized on General Pope's camp, 
he found there a darkey about the same size as General 
Pope, and this contraband individual he encased in the 
General's best clothes, cihoulder-straps and all, and 
caused to ride beside him on a mule through Warren- 
ton, labelled on his back, " No retreat !" " Onward to 
Richmond !" No doubt but that General Stuart thought 
that to dress a darkey in the federal uniform, was suf- 
ficient to make him fit to ride beside him ! 



100 

An Explanation. 

Hard bread, or as it is generally called in camp, 
« hard tack," is the soldier's food on a campaign. It 
comes in square wooden boxes, on which different ma- 
kers put their various brands. 

One day a lot of boxes of peculiarly hard crackers 
arrived in the camp of the 5th Excelsior. Several of 
the boys were wondering the meaning of the brand 
upon the boxes, which was as follows : 
« B. C." 
603. 
Various interpretations were given, but all were 
rejected, until one individual declared it was plain 
enough — could't be misunderstood. 
'■« Why, how so ?" was the query. 
" Oh," he replied, " that is the date when the crack- 
ers were made— six hundred and three years before 
Christ. (003 B. C") 

When the Fifth Excelsior regiment was camped near 
Port Tobacco, Md.,.the secesh farmers in the neighbor- 
hood raised a great outcry about a few chickens which 
had been missed from their poultry yards. Stringent 
orders were accordingly issued against foraging. Still, 
now and then an unlucky fowl would find its way into 
the mess kitchen, but nobod^^ could account for its 
presence there. At last an unlucky wight was caught 
bearing a goose into camp. 

He was brought to the Captain of his company, who 
in tones of severity demanded how in the face of such 
stringent orders he dare steal geese. * 



Details. 101 



*' I didn't steal it," indignantly retorted the culprit. 

*' Did 3^ou buy it ?" 

*' No. I'll tell 3^011 how it was : I was coming" up 
from the village whistling Yankee Doodle, when out 
,came one of old Farrell's geese, and hearing the tune 
I was whistling, commenced hissing. I couldn't stand 
that, and so I up and knocked it over. Well, as I had 
killed it, I thought that like as not a detail would be 
ordered out in the morning to bury offal, and I thought 
I might as well bring the goose up to camp and have 
it handy." 

The Captain could hardly " see it ;" nevertheless, 
Farrcll never g-ot paid for that goose. 



Details. 

There is not a Captain in the service who has not a 
chronic horror of the approach of the sergeant-major 
with tlie order, " Captain, you will detail ten men for 

." Whatever has to be done, a detail is called 

for ; but the follov>'ing anecdote would seem to indi- 
cate that Gen. Sickels carries it rather farther than is 
ordinarily done : # 

At tlic battle of Fair Oaks, the enemy posted a lot 
of sharp-shooters in trees, and some of them had made 
some very good shots at the General. 

lie sent for a Captain of one of his companies. The 
Captain touched his hat, and awaited orders. 

" Captain," said the General, quietly, " there is a 
fellow in that tree yonder, who has been firing at me ; 
I wish you would detail a couple of men to shoot him." 

IIow the Secesh relished the detail, is not told. 



102 1 

The Drummer Boy. 

One of the volunteer military companies recently 
organized in Chicago, had a drummer boy 13 years old, 
a member of a Sabbath School of that city. As the 
company on drill were marching, through one of the 
streets, a fine flag, bearing the stars and stripes, was 
displayed from one of the many drinking saloons which 
mar the beauty and morals of that city, as they do all 
our cities, east and west. The Captain, overflowing 
with patriotism at the sight of our national ensign, 
ordered his men to halt, and give it a royal salute. 
The drummer boy, supposing the salute to be intended 
for the place, as well as for the flag, held his drum in 
perfect silence. The Captain, in a reproving tone, 
inquired the cause. " Sir," said the boy, " I w^ould 
not go into such a place as that, and I certainly can- 
not salute it." " My good boy," said the Captain, pat- 
ting him on the shoulder, " my good boy, you are 
right, and I am wrong." 



Eemembered and Mourned. 



For every man who falls in battle, some one mourns.. 
For every man who dies in hospital wards, and of 
whom perhaps no note is made, some one mourns. For 
the humblest soldier shot on picket, and of whose 
humble exit from the stage of life little is thought, 
some one mourns. Nor this alone. For every soldier 
disabled ; for every one who loses an arm or a leg, or 
who is wounded or languishes in protracted suffering ; 



103 

for every one who has " onlj' camp fever," some heart 
bleeds, some tears arc shed. In far otf humble house- 
holds, perhaps, sleepless nights and anxious da3^s are 
passed, of which the world never knows ; and every 
wounded and crippled soldier who returns to his family 
and friends, brings a lasting pang with him. Oh ! 
how the mothers feel this war ! If ever God is sad in 
heaven, it seems to me it must be when He looks upon 
the hearts of these mothers. We who are j^oung, think 
little of it ; neither, I imagine, do the fathers or the 
brothers know much of it ; but it is the poor mothers, 
and wives of the soldiers. God help them ! 



James Leonard, of Upper Gilmanton, has written a 
letter stating- his difficulties in trying to enlist. He 
says, among other indignant things : " After accept- 
ing several men over 45 3^ears of age, and several in- 
fants, such as a man like me could whip a dozen of, I 
was rejected because I had the honesty to acknowledge 
that I was more than forty-five 3^ears of age. The 
mustering officer was a very good-looking man, about 
thirty-five 3^ears old ; but I guess I can run faster and 
jump higher than he ; also take him down, whip hinij 
endure more hardships, and kill at least three rebels to 
his one." 



A preacher of the M. E. Church says that he and his 
brethren will f.ght the rebels in this world, and if God 
permit, chase their filgh'.ened ghosts in the next. 



104 

A citizen in one of onr neig-hboring cities, who had 
stirring appeals to his fellow-citizens to enlist, finally 
concluded to set the example and enlist himself. lie 
was " blessed" with a physical infirmity which he sup- 
posed would exempt him from military duty. Never- 
theless, knowing this, he was bound to show his pa- 
triotsm, and signed his name to an enlistment paper. 
The surgeon examined him and pronounced him '• all 
right — ^just the man for a soldier." " What !" said the 
astonished " patriot," '• you don't mean to say I can 
go?" "Certainly, sir." ''But," said he, "I haye a 
serious infirmity" — at the sam(3 time pointing it out to 
the examiner. " Never mind that," said the heartless 
surgeon, " you are all right ; go and do your duty." 
The last that was seen of this " patriotic" "individual, 
he was endeavoring to procure a substitute. 



A geography seems to be badly wanted down South. 
A letter from a sergeant in the 29th Massachusetts 
Regiment, dated " Near Norfolk, Virginia, Camp Mis- 
erj% Fifteen Miles from ' the Knowledge of God,' May 
13th, 1862," says that Capt. Tripp's company was as 
well as could be expected, considering their situation. 



-« • m — f<- 



_ Every available article seems bound to go to lint, 
'" -^ju^i now. The oddest instance of this that we have 
"^J^ heatd .of, however, was furnished last week by our 
* 5^.Milesia(i Reporter, who, on being asked for the loan of 
*$>*, ^'to^mwAella, said that it Avas Lint already. 

1^^ ^lif 




Dawley's Camp & Fireside Library.— No. 2. 

o 
9 

Written Expressly for this Series. 

The scenes of this strange story are laid in California, com- 
mencing some years before the gold mines were discovered, 
and brought down to the time " when mobs and murders were 
as plentiful as golden slugs ;" when gamblers were reckoned 
right and proper men, and gambling hells were the saloons of 
fashion, and men of mind, manners and money amused them- 
selves therein ; when theatres outnumbered churches, and play 
books. Bibles ; when courtezans were the acknowledged lead- 
ers of ton ; when San Francisco rivalled her elder sisters, both 
of the Old and New World, in her bowers of pleasure — for 
here was the great nucleus of splendor and gratification of every 
sens e. Fortunes were made in a single day. Men who had 
made fortunes in the mines came here. What wonder, then, 
if crime jostled crime in the streets. What wonder if fraud' 
throve in the mart of opulence, or that midnight brawls dis- 
turbed the repose of the few who tried to be just. 

Then arose the Vigilance Committee, taking judgment in- 
to their own hands, when the quivering bodies of flajgrant 
offenders swung from the wide windows of the Committee 
Rooms in Battery Street, an awful example of the dues of evil. 

THE PROMINENT CHARACTERS WHO FIGURE IN THIS STORY ARE- 

URREQUADA, the Mountain Outlaw. 

MERCEDES, his Lovely Daughter. 

ANGELA, the Nun of Santa Rosa Mission. 

HAROLD LUMAIN, the Mountain Adventurer. 

LILIAN DAHL, the Courtezan. 

HARRY GALTRIM and EVERHERT, the Gamblers. 

CHARLOTTE VESPASIAN, the V^oms n of the Street, 

and Murderess o-f Everhert, 
THE ROBBERS OF THE MINES, &o., &c. 



T, R. DAWLEY, Publisher, 

13 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. 



DAWLEY'S CAMP AND FIRESIDE LIBEARY-No. 4. 



9 

The Avenger: 

A TALE OF LOVE AND HATE! 



TnE writer of this truly interesting and effective story is a 
lady of rare genius and well cultivated power of description 
She lias faithfully delineated her characters, which are true to 
life, and they will find an echo in many a heart. The trials 
of Isabella Trevard will awaken sympathy in every woman 
who has looked forward to a life of happinees and felt but its 
shadow. The history of Justina, her daughter, will thrill the 
reader with strange delight and admiration. As for Madern- 
'oiselle Laureaux, the brilliant woman, none can excel her. 
Henri Livingston, he is worthy the contempt of all just men 
for his unvaryhig cruelty to, and unjust suspicions of his wife 
— ho but heaped coals of fire upon his own head, for his day 
of retribution came at last. Ernest and Mahel, his children, 
whom ho had taught to believe that their mother was un- 
worthy the name of wife, shared llie doom which burst like 
a thunderbolt among thera. Richard Carlton, the friend of 
Justina, was of that pure and noble type which shine like dia- 
monds in the social circle. Paul Moncrief, the betrothed ol 
Mahel, passes through many trying ordeals, from which hi* 
true heart never faltered. ^ 

PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS-MAILED, POSTPAID. 



T, R. DAWLEY, Publis^ 

13 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. 

eO 1.2.2 















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